If you recently bought a bag of Doritos and thought it contained fewer chips, don’t freak out.
Some of America’s favorite snacks have shrunk by up to 20 percent in the past 25 years due to cost cutting from rising inflation, a move called “shrinkage inflation.”
It’s not just chips. Fast food, cereals, soft drinks, ice cream and dressings have all been kept at the same price or even made more expensive, despite the shrinking size.
Candy industry leaders claim they are reducing product sizes for the good of consumers, saying it helps control sugar and calorie intake.
Domino’s $7.99 box of chicken wings contained 10 wings in 2022, but now it only has eight. Cadbury’s cream eggs have declined by more than 14 percent between the 1970s and 2015, while the weight of a Toblerone has dropped by more than 15 percent since 2010.
Domino’s made the biggest cuts, cutting their $7.99 chicken wings from 10 pieces to eight pieces. Next up is Toblerone, which has shrunk more than 15 percent
Inflation hit a 40-year high of 7.9 percent in February, the Labor Department announced Thursday, a figure not seen in nearly 50 years since the Carter administration. Rising stocks, experts say, are responsible for ‘shrinkage inflation’ phenomenon
Annual inflation in the US peaked at seven percent in 2021. It now stands at five percent, as economic pressures from the pandemic have eased.
In the latest case of companies downsizing their chip products, giant Frito-Lay revealed last month that it had reduced the number of chips in its bags of Doritos.
‘Inflation affects everyone’, a company representative told Quartz of his decision to trim down the size of his 9.75 ounce bag of the cheesy snack to 9.25 ounces.
That is a discount of about five chips per package, according to the spokesperson. The price of the product, usually around $4.29, has remained the same.
“We’ve taken a little bit out of the bag so we can give you the same price and you can continue to enjoy your chips,” the rep responded to questions about the cut.
Frito-Lay also tinkered with the sizes of other snacks, downsizing their Tostitos with a Hint of Guacamole chips by one ounce, from 12 to 11 oz, and their Hint of Lime option from 13 to just 11 oz.
Inflation was 7.9 percent in February 2022, the highest point in about 40 years.
Meanwhile, Lays Classic chips dropped from 15.25 ounces per pack to 13 ounces — nearly a 15 percent drop.
Before/after: A representative from the Frito-Lay company confirmed the company’s decision to reduce the size of the 9.75-ounce bag of the cheesy snack (seen at left) to 9.25 ounces, the company said. spokesman – blaming inflation for the decline
Reese’s peanut butter cups used to weigh in at 1.6 oz in the 80’s and 90’s. But by the 2010s and 2020s, the pack had shrunk slightly to 1.5 ounces. GOOD
Meanwhile, a bag of dark chocolate Hershey’s Kisses dropped nearly two ounces from its 18oz package in 2019 to 16.1oz. However, the price remained the same.
A single Cadbury’s creme egg weighed 1.4 oz in the 1970s, but has shrunk to 1.2 oz since 2015.
Cereal producer General Mills downsized its family boxes from 19.3 oz to 18.1 oz — a drop of nearly 10 percent in recent years.
And the classic milk chocolate Toblerone shrunk from 7.1 oz to 6 ounces in 2010.
In January 2009, Haagen-Dazs reduced the size of their ice cream cartons from 16 fluid ounces (fl oz) to 14flo oz. However, the price for the box remained the same.
That says a spokesperson for parent company Nestle CNBC it was the result of “increased costs of energy, dairy and some of our key ingredients.”
They said: ‘Because of the economic downturn, we have chosen to downsize rather than raise the price or compromise on quality. We were sensitive to the fact that raising the price would have made Haagen-Dazs unaffordable for many in that economic climate.”
Joining the parade of scaled-down products is stalwart breakfast cereal Honey Bunches of Oats, which has seen the weight of its standard carton, previously 14.5 ounces (left), reduced to 12 ounces (right) — a reduction of about 17 percent
Meanwhile, Pringles shrank from 5.5 oz to 5.2 oz in 2022, and Bolthouse Creamy Caesar yogurt dressing shrank from 14 oz to 12 oz in the same year.
Sports drink Gatorade Zero also dropped from 32fl oz to 28fl oz.
Joining the parade of slimmed-down products was stalwart breakfast cereal Honey Bunches of Oats, which has seen the weight of its standard carton, formerly 14.5 oz, reduced to 12 oz — a reduction of about 17 percent.
The 2.5 oz decrease is good for about two bowls of cereal.
However, only the most avid shoppers will be aware of this, with – aside from the product’s new labeled net weight and the fact that the box is slightly narrower – the packaging is virtually identical.
The price for the product, which varies from store to store and state to state, has remained largely the same.
Meanwhile, Cap’n Crunch’s peanut butter crunch went from 12.5 ounces to 11.4 ounces.
Another downsized product was Keebler Cookies, owned by the Keebler Company.
The Chips Deluxe with M&M’s option, which once came in an 11.3 oz package, is down to 9.75 oz — a discount of nearly 15 percent.
Online, Target has priced the 11.3 oz version at $2.75, nearly 25 cents less than the discounted version, priced at $2.99.
Another popular “shrunk” item was Gatorade, owned by The Gatorade Company, which saw its 32fl oz bottles redesigned to hold less booze—four fluid ounces less, to be exact, to 28fl oz.
Walmart listed the 32oz for $1.29, while the smaller 28 ounce version cost five cents more, at $1.34.