Listerine, PG Tips and Kettle Chips are among the latest products that have fallen victim to shrinkflation, with some products getting smaller despite their prices increasing.
According to the latest data from consumer watchdog Which?, Listerine’s Fresh Burst mouthwash has shrunk from 600ml to 500ml despite the price going up by 52p at Tesco, resulting in shoppers paying 21% more for 17% less.
PG Tips was also found to be 22% smaller but 27% more expensive as boxes of its Tasty Decaf Pyramid tea bags went from containing 180 bags to 140 at a range of UK supermarkets.
While many stores dropped the price, Which? found that Ocado increased the price from £4 to £5.09 despite the size reduction – a 64% cost increase per tea bag.
Lipton Teas, the manufacturer of PG Tips, told Sky News: “The average price of a PG Tips decaf tea bag fell 10% between January 2021 and January 2022, according to Nielsen national pricing data.
“Pricing is at the absolute discretion of the retailers of course and there may well be promotional in-store activity affecting Which?’s research.”
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Other products that have shrunk in size include Bisto Best Chicken Gravy Granuals which went from 250g to 230g at Asda and Morrisons, Cadbury’s Brunch Chocolate Chip Bars which went from six to five in a pack at Asda, Morrisons, Ocado and Tesco, and Kettle Chips Sea Salt and Crushed Black Peppercorns Crisps, which reduced from 150g to 130g at Tesco.
Which? found that Coffee Mate Original Whitener, Colgate Triple Action Toothpaste, Lurpak Slightly Salted Butter, McVitie’s Digestives Dark Chocolate Biscuits and Yeo Valley Organic Salted Spreadable have also been hit by shrinkflation.
Coffee Mate maker Nestle, said the “minor adjustments” to the weights of its products came “in order to maintain the highest standards of quality”.
The watchdog also looked into skimpflation – when a products quality is reduced to ensure it remains the same price – and found that Tesco’s Finest sausages have reduced from 97% pork to 90%.
Other changes include Morrisons The Best Lasagne Al Forno which has reduced its beef quantity from 30% to 26%, Tesco Beef Lasagne, which went from 23% beef to 19%, and Waitrose Butter Chicken Curry, which was cut from 47% chicken to 41%.
However, many manufacturers that spoke to Which? said the changes are a reflection of the costs they face, and that some recipes had been tweaked to improve the flavour or healthiness of a product.
Tesco said that it updated the recipe of its Finest sausages in 2021 “to deliver a healthier and better-tasting product”.
A Waitrose spokesperson told Which?: “Our focus is always on our customers and our new curry recipes performed better than the previous range in benchmarking tests.
“We’ve kept the same prices since this change and we continue to use industry-leading higher-welfare chicken from British farms across our entire ready meals range.”
