Ban planned: deceptive packaging should fly out of the supermarket

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Supermarket in Hamburg: "Consumers are being misled here," says Environment Minister Lemke about deceptive packaging

Photo: Lars Berg / IMAGO

In times of rampant inflation, they are particularly common: hidden price increases in retail through deceptive packaging. "Deceptive packaging is a major nuisance, consumers are being misled here," Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) told Handelsblatt. I want to put a stop to that.« Corresponding requirements should be in place as part of the amendment to the Packaging Act.

In the future, according to Lemke, it should be clearly regulated "that consistently large packaging with reduced content is inadmissible". This also applies if the contents remain the same and the packaging is enlarged. "Such practices are problematic both from the point of view of consumer protection and from the point of view of waste prevention," Lemke emphasized.

A draft law is currently undergoing internal government coordination. The SPD consumer politician Carsten Träger called the proposed change in the law a "necessary step for environmental and consumer protection". It will be made clear "that less filling quantity with the same packaging size is inadmissible," said Träger of the "Handelsblatt".

The FDP consumer politician Katharina Willkomm opposed the coalition partner's legislative plans. "In a free market economy, manufacturers are free to determine the price of their goods and the size of the packaging or to change both," Willkomm told Handelsblatt. There is no need for a legal ban on shrinkage.«

In addition, there is sufficient social control through negative prices such as the "deceptive packaging of the year" of the consumer centers, said the FDP politician. Consumers who feel swayed by the product should consistently change brands the next time they shop.«

»Shrinkflation«

A few weeks ago, the consumer advice centre in Hamburg and Stiftung Warentest drew attention to a sharp increase in deceptive packaging and cited a few examples. For example, the package of cocoa powder "Suchard Express" shrank from 500 to 400 grams, making it 25 percent more expensive. The price of the shower gel »Duschdas Sport« increased in price by 22 percent due to a lower content.

Hidden price increases fall under the term shrinkflation. The term is composed of the English word "shrink" for shrinking and inflation. The magazine »test« recently cited further examples of shrinkflation.

sol/AFP