MAJOR brands and supermarkets are removing expensive ingredients from products to cut costs, despite prices rising for shoppers, an investigation has found.
Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary accuses food firms and supermarkets including Tesco and Morrisons of the so-called “skimpflation” practice.
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The practice involves retailers or brands reducing the quality of a product to cut back on costs, different to “shrinkfation” – when an item is reduced in size to save money.
Researchers for Channel 4 compared product recipes now against records found on internet archives.
And they discovered a number of brands and supermarkets have shaken up product recipes to cut costs, despite food prices being almost a third more expensive compared to two years ago.
Ella’s Kitchen Chicken and veg sweetcorn mash has gone from 12% to 10% chicken, sweetcorn is down from 29% to 19%, milk has dropped from 20% to 13% and total calories have dropped by 21%.
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Rob Winwood, a food technologist with over 40 years experience, said it was “of concern” the product had seen its calories reduced.
The investigation, which airs at 9pm tonight, also found Jacob’s Mini Cheddars have 20% less cheese compared to two years ago, when they were almost a third cheaper.
Meanwhile, Morrisons’ Roast Beef Dinner and Yorkshire pudding recipe had a quarter more Yorkshire pudding and 15% more beef in it last year.
Tesco’s Greek Style Yoghurt was also hit by the skimpflation tactic, going from 9.5% to 7.5% fat between 2020 and this year, while its price went from 50p to £1.10 over the same time period.
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This is the full list of products that saw recipes changed to cut costs:
- Ella’s Kitchen Chicken and veg with sweetcorn mash
- Jacob’s Mini Cheddars
- Morrisons Roast Beef Dinner and Yorkshire pudding
- Tesco Greek Style Yoghurt
- Tesco Beef Lasagne
- Tesco Tartare sauce
- Morrisons The Best Lasagne Al Forno
It comes after The Sun found a number of supermarkets are watering down mulled wine and raising prices for mince pies, pigs in blankets and crisps ahead of Christmas.
A probe revealed Sainsbury’s Mull It Over wine costs more this year, despite containing less alcohol, while Tesco’s still costs £3 but is also weaker.
Morrisons is charging less for its mulled wine, but has slashed the alcohol content from eight to five per cent.
The Dispatches documentary also found, alongside research by consumer champions Which?, that a number of bigger brands are increasing their prices more than supermarket own brands.
Hellman’s Mayo has increased by 58% over the last two years, more than the 51% average seen in own-branded mayos.
Meanwhile, McVities Digestives have gone up by 40%, more than the average increase seen in own-brands.
Plus, Heinz ketchup has increased by 50%, more than the 41% increase seen in own-brands.
In response to the skimpflation claims, a Morrisons spokesperson said it was “working hard” to keep prices down despite an “unprecedented” period of inflation.
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A Tesco spokesperson said it was “always looking for ways to improve” its recipes.
Ella’s Kitchen said it had made changes to some of its products following customer feedback and a Jacobs spokesperson said it had made the changes to Mini Cheddars to give them a stronger flavour, while it had “also been dealing with inflationary pressures”.
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