“Spar Marie” – Don’t be fooled by the “shrinkage”!

This manufacturer’s approach is relentlessly revealed, especially in product testing – we tell you what to look for and which of your favorite products are affected.

However, for topical reasons, the following list only includes products that have been surveyed by “consumers” this year – but these alone are numerous, not to say far too many products.

Pringles Chips „Original“ — as well as other varieties — were reduced from 200 to 185 grams in March this year, according to manufacturer Kellogg due to “different sales channels and consumer eating habits.”

Rama Original: The larger pack now contains only 450 grams instead of 500 grams, the smaller 225 instead of 250 grams – but for the same price. The manufacturer states that raw material prices have risen and that switching to a palm oil-free recipe is more expensive. Therefore, the product was not priced. But, and this was also revealed: Since the new recipe, the fat content is only 75 percent instead of 80 percent — meaning there’s five percent more water in it.

Also the cup Thea Margarine now has less content to offer – with the same pack size and price. Compared to the Rama, it contains 100 grams less. Both products come from the Swiss manufacturer Upfield. As with Rama, Becel Gold margarine in the retail packaging was reduced from 250 to 225 grams.

ovomaltine: The packaging “The Classic” in the one kilo refill pack suddenly contains 100 grams less, but costs the same as before.

Sometimes it’s also about the environment
Anyone who likes to stir Ovomaltine or other cocoa into natural yogurt would probably prefer the product in a glass to a plastic cup for environmental reasons. For example at SPAR Pure nature mountain farmers organic yogurt would fit more into it than is in it. 450 grams can be found in our glasses, in the same reusable glass from the German producer Landliebe you will find 500 grams. If we filled the 50 grams more, the good ecological balance of reusable glass could be optimised, the “consumer” judged. Why bottler Berglandmilch “only” adds 450 grams is argued with the otherwise higher price due to the higher net fill quantity, and the product never contained more than 450 grams. Tirolmilch and Schärdinger also put 450 grams into the glass.

If you buy a bulk pack, you rightly expect that the unit price will in any case be cheaper. Bee Thanks best selection If not: 100 grams of the 400 gram package costs two euros, and the smaller ones cost 1.28 to 1.52 euros. A piece of Merci costs 27 or 28 cents in a large package and 17 cents each in a 250 gram package.

Bee magnum and Croissant from Eskimo, the individual pieces in the large packs are smaller – the Magnum ten milliliters, the Cornetto even 30 milliliters. According to manufacturer Unilever, this has been the case for ten years. Plus, you can get away with buying the bulk packs much cheaper. The other ice cream flavors are the same in bulk as with the individual purchase, but here too it is much cheaper if you buy family packs or packs with different types of ice cream.

And size matters
Let’s stick to the candy: Twix and Twix white appear the same size in the box, but are not. For the same price, the special edition is an inch shorter. The manufacturer Mars argues the actual price increase with the deviation from the normal production processes.

Shrinkage does not stop at meat or meat products: In SPAR Pure natural organic minced meat there is now only 280 grams per cup instead of 330, in the Knabber Nossi Multipack only eleven instead of twelve – for the same price. The discount for a snack sausage is around nine percent at a pack price of 5.99 euros.

And even at Toilet paper or cleaning and detergents the “shrinkage” according to “Konsumer” has already been observed. Here customers pay the same money for fewer layers or smaller or fewer leaves.

Packs that are too big with almost only air in them
However, packaging that is too large often suggests that more content is to be expected. If you don’t check the gram count when you go shopping, you’ll be bitterly disappointed when you unpack it at home. For example, the box hides at Garden Gourmet Vegan Burger three quarters of Nestlé’s packaging. Only two patties are placed on top of each other, the rest is air.

Also the igloo Green Cuisine vegetarian sausages fill only two thirds of the way.

For pasta in a box – like Recheis Vermicelli – often also contains about a third of air. The manufacturers justify this with technical challenges, but also with the fact that the volume of the above-mentioned paste type at the time of filling is “considerably higher than later”. When the noodles are squeezed together by shaking, the large empty space is created.

“Style” – instead of the content – just an addition
But the customers are not only fooled by the packaging formats, but also by the content: that’s how it is in the Kelly’s Chips Salt & Vinegar Style no trace of vinegar, although a bottle of vinegar is shown on the packaging. This is an indication that what’s on the label isn’t what’s in it – albeit in a much smaller font size than the Salt & Vinegar “Style” behind it. This word is often used by manufacturers to indicate taste.

The ‘consumer’ calls it a ‘nice try’ and a ‘loophole’. The ingredients advertised as “style” are usually not contained in the product in question or, if they are, in the form of flavors.

But there is also good news
Suddenly are in the package Barilla Lasagna Collection N. 189 only 14 instead of 16 sheets of dough in it – according to the packaging but with the same net weight. Here, however, the test has good news for the customer: there was already more in it than was stated on the packaging. The 16 leaves weighed 278 grams – but even the now thinner packaging comes in at over the specified 250 grams, the individual leaves weigh a little more than the old ones. It seems like there is less in there because the earlier lasagna sheets were more curled, which took up more space.

And: The unnecessarily large packaging of BILLA Organic Trinkakao was reduced by a third. This was better geared to the filling quantity and savings were made on packaging material. Previously, four times the amount would have matched.

Incidentally, these hidden price increases are not prohibited. However, the information on the packaging must not be misleading, the applicable regulations must be observed. Slightly less than indicated may also be in it – there is a small tolerance.