Kraft Dinner reduces portion sizes and Canadians are calling out shrinkflation
The latest case of shrinkflation has people calling “macaroni,” as shoppers notice the shrinking size of a staple many Canadians grew up on: Kraft Dinner.
A video making the rounds on social media shows a Canadian shopper expressing outrage over the shrinking size of KD after purchasing two separate boxes of the pre-packaged cheese power and macaroni combo.
The boxes of Canada’s favourite struggle meal were purchased at the same price just two weeks apart; however, there is a 25-gram differential listed between the two otherwise identical packages.
“What in the shrinky-dink is going on around here? This is getting ridiculous,” vents the shopper, comparing the two iconic blue boxes of pasta with one key difference — one marked 200 grams and the other labelled 225 grams.
Though the ubiquitous boxes are identical in size, Kraft has seemingly made a point of changing the portion labelling to a more visible white print, making no effort to hide the reduced serving size.
Commenters are taking this latest instance of rising food prices personally. Several responses pile on, taking shots at Kraft and the broader grocery industry.
“Someone is gonna argue with me that this isn’t price gouging and corporate capitalist greed and blame socialism,” reads one response.
“It’s crazy though ’cause it’s pasta!” reads another comment, asking, “Like really, is Kraft that broke now?”
Food distribution researcher and professor Sylvain Charlebois noted on X that Kraft did indeed confirm the size change back in October.
Kraft Heinz — a company valued at over US$43 billion — opted to shave 25 grams of KD off the plates of hungry Canadians for a variety of reasons, including the cost of ingredients, supply chain, and labour force, while also keeping prices relatively low.
When Kraft Dinner launched to Canadian customers in 1937, it cost 19 cents for a 205-gram box of the vibrant orange good stuff. According to the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator, the 1937 price would be worth $3.86 in 2023, for an inflation rate of 1,933.3%.
In Kraft’s defence, a single box of KD currently retails for between $2 and $3 on average, meaning a box of the stuff — regardless of shrinking sizes — has actually kept well below the inflation rate across 86 years of serving fussy kids and hungry university students.
Countering that defence, Kraft Heinz’s CEO Miguel Patricio earns an annual salary of US$7.1 million (approximately C$9,646,000) — or about 162.6 times the average Canadian salary of $59,300.
You could buy a lot of macaroni with that kind of money.