The Foodwatch association had pinpointed, through two surveys published in September and December 2022, several food products whose size or quantity had decreased and the price per kilo increased in recent months.

This is called "shrinkflation" (contraction of English shrink, reduce, and inflation).

Transparency problems on packaging have finally been confirmed by a recent investigation by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF), franceinfo relays on Wednesday.

Unspecified changes

This survey, conducted since the end of 2022, is based on observations made in packaging plants and food stores.

In total, anomalies between the actual weight and the displayed weight of the products were observed in 7 of the 31 factories checked and in 11% of the shops visited.

Many essential products are concerned, such as pasta, milk, sugar, flour and hygiene products.

In detail, Bercy pointed the finger at "negligence harming the proper information of consumers".

In some cases, the reduced weight has been changed on the packaging, but not mentioned as a novelty.

In others, the reduction in quantities was not specified at all.

When questioned, the brands concerned by this second scenario explained that they had not made this change because of the costs involved in modifying the labels and packaging.

To a reporting app

To solve this problem of transparency, the government would like to allow consumers to report these anomalies in real time via the SignalConso site, which would be available in a few months in a mobile application.

Authorities are also reportedly considering working with mass retailers to display weight or quantity changes directly.



Informed of the results of this survey, the Foodwatch association welcomed the initiative and the proposed solutions, but would like the authorities to have more means to fight against these practices.

She also regretted that the investigation did not really look into the processes of “shrinkflation”, with a more in-depth study of oversized packaging and the reduction of food formats.

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