"Literally robbing you": Woman calls out Walmart Canada for under-filled crouton package

A Canadian customer is calling out Walmart for “literally robbing” shoppers after she weighed a package of croutons only to find out it was severely under-filled.

TikTok user Meghan Smorenburg posted a video of her weighing the bag of Great Value Ceasar Croutons on October 18.

Great Value is Walmart’s own private label, which often sells food and other grocery items at lower prices compared to other name brands.

The product weight is listed as 142 grams on the package, but when Smorenburg placed the bag on the scale it weighed in at 58 grams.

Turns out she wasn’t getting a great value for her Walmart crouton purchase at all.

@meghaannicole As if groceries weren’t expensive enough in Canada…Thanks @Walmart Canada ♬ original sound – Meghan Smorenburg

“Robbing you [with] grocery prices and then… literally robbing you,” stated Smorenburg, referencing Canada’s current battle against the sky-high cost of groceries.

Great Value? Not so much

The video quickly gained attention on TikTok and has received over one million views and hundreds of comments.

“All manufacturers are getting away with this, but nobody is checking on it,” wrote one commenter.

“I have been tempted to bring a scale into the store and do it so I don’t have to pay for the items. It’s against the law,” stated another.

“The fact that they’re jacking up the prices AND giving us less AND cheaper ingredients is frustrating. There’s only so far you can stretch the consumer,” said one person.

“This happens all the time they’re making things smaller but keeping the amount on the packaging the same,” wrote another.

Smorenburg did receive questions about whether or not her scale was accurate, prompting her to make a follow-up video.

@meghaannicole Replying to @DW ♬ original sound – Meghan Smorenburg

Some commenters asked her to show the back side of the bag, to prove she didn’t cut it open and remove croutons. Smorenburg once again, came with receipts.

@meghaannicole Replying to @Ashley ♬ original sound – Meghan Smorenburg

“There’s the bag. There’s the back of it. Here’s the bottom of it,” she can be heard saying as she shakes the package.

The chip rip-off

This isn’t the first time a large Canadian grocery chain has been caught underfilling products.

In September, Loblaw said it was investigating after a customer who purchased a No Name brand bag of chips weighed the item, only to learn they were getting ripped off.

TikTok user @joceforce posted a video of themselves weighing the package, which claimed the bag’s net quantity of chips was 200 grams.

However, when the bag was placed on their kitchen scale, it showed the contents were much less than what was printed on the bag.

At first, the results came out to 115 grams, and then the TikToker slightly adjusted the bag, and the scale determined the contents weighed 101 grams (including the bag itself).

A similar incident also happened with No Name onion rings. 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) guidelines state that “In general, it is not acceptable to under-fill a container with a product.”

“For example, it is not acceptable to package 200 millitres of a beverage in a container having a capacity of 250 millitres. This would result in a head-space of at least 24%, often referred to as “slack-fill,” and would be misleading with respect to the quantity of the product [6(1), SFCA].”

The CFIA also has rules on accuracy when it comes to the declared quantity labelled on a food package.

Customers who wish to make a complaint about a food product they think is misleading can do so here.

Daily Hive reached out to Walmart for further comment.