French grocery chain displays "shrinkflation" warnings to shame suppliers

A French grocery chain is throwing shade at food manufacturers, displaying “shrinkflation” signs in stores.

Carrefour, a multinational retail giant based out of France, began putting up labels this week warning shoppers of the trend where suppliers reduce a product’s amount or volume while continuing to sell it at the same price.

The grocery chain has placed “shrinkflation” warning labels on items like Lays chips and Lipton iced tea.

It aims to pressure food corporations like PepsiCo, Unilever and Nestlé to address the issue ahead of contract discussions, reported The Guardian.

“Obviously, the aim in stigmatizing these products is to be able to tell manufacturers to rethink their pricing policy,” Stefen Bompais, director of client communications at Carrefour, told the BBC.

Shrinkflation: Carrefour met en place dès aujourd’hui des affiches sur les produits concernés – @cedricfaiche pic.twitter.com/tYlB4E2ron

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So far, the grocery giant has put 26 items on blast for shrinking in size while still costing more, according to The Guardian.

The stickers read: “his product has seen its volume or weight fall and the effective price from the supplier rise.”Carrefour gave local media some examples of “shrinkflation” from manufacturers.

It says a bottle of sugar-free peach-flavoured Lipton Ice Tea, produced by PepsiCo, shrank to 1.25 litres from 1.5 litres.

Guigoz infant milk formula, produced by Nestlé, went from a pack size of 900 grams to 830 grams.

A Viennetta ice cream cake made by Unilever (and sadly no longer sold in Canada) has shrunk from 350 grams to 320 grams.

“Shrinkflation” is a global issue. In Canada, shoppers have slammed grocery giants like Loblaws after discovering some No Name chip bags weigh far less than advertised.

We did our investigation after another shopper found underweight onion ring chip bags.

Daily Hive has reached out to PepsiCo, Nestlé and Unilever for comment.

Have you been noticing “shrinkflation” in your groceries? Let us know in the comments.