Canadian shoppers lament latest target of 'shrinkflation' — bottles of Kraft dressing are 10 per cent smaller

Grocery shoppers are ringing the alarm on the latest victim of shrinkflation, this time targeting a popular Kraft salad dressing line that is retailing for the same price despite its size diminishing by at least 10 per cent.

Three recent posts to the Reddit forum "Loblaws is Out of Control" are devoted to documenting the size and price of the popular and historically affordable brand of salad dressing being sold at different grocery chains across Canada. In one post, a photo shows two bottles of the dressing: A bottle of creamy caesar dressing in a 425-millilitre bottle next to a 475-millilitre bottle of zesty Italian.

“Stock up on the 475ml salad dressing bottles while you can since they're shrinking by 50 ml,” user rmcintyrm wrote. “These bottles have been basically the same for 40 years. This effort to save a few tablespoons of dressing per bottle is opportunistic.”

Another thread shows a photo taken at a Safeway of 425-millilitre bottles of bacon caesar dressing next to a 475-millilitre bottle of creamy cucumber. Both have a $3.99 price tag.

Yet another thread shows a photo taken at a Sobeys store, this time comparing a 425-millilitre bottle of creamy cucumber dressing next to one that’s 475 millilitre. Though each bottle has different branding on the label, they both are being sold for $3.99, as some users remember the product often being on sale for under $2.  

Kraft Heinz, the company which owns the Kraft brand, did not respond to request for comment.

Shoppers all over the world can’t ignore “shrinkflation”

Documenting the shrinking size of grocery products — a phenomenon known as “shrinkflation,” as items get smaller but their prices stay the same — is becoming a pastime for many Canadians on social media. In February, a Reddit post went viral for chronicling the changing size of a box of Kraft Dinner, the notoriously cheap boxed meal.

The photo showed two boxes of Kraft Dinner that appear to be the same size, except one box contains 200 grams of food while the other contains 225 grams.

The phenomenon of shrinkflation isn’t unique to Canada. According to an Ipsos Global survey, which polled nearly 25,000 people in 33 countries, 48 per cent said the practice is unacceptable. In Canada, 64 per cent of respondents held that view. Only Turkey and France scored higher, at 66 and 67 per cent respectively.

Some countries regulating shrinkflation — but not Canada

In 2022, Brazil directed manufacturers to declare any volume or weight reductions on product labels for a period of six months

As of this month, the Economy Ministry of Hungary is now requiring large food retailers to show price warnings on items that have gotten smaller in size.

"In the past months, the phenomenon where the size of certain products shrinks while their prices remain the same or even increase has attracted heightened attention in several countries," Reuters quoted the Economy Ministry as saying. "This deceptive practice leads to consumers getting less of the purchased product for their money,"

A photo of the Hungarian warning accompanying the shrunken items was recently posted to Reddit. It shows a display for bags of chips with a sign that reads: “Be careful, the product has become smaller!”

Many in the comments section felt Canada could adopt a similar rule.

“Great initiative,” ChronoFrost271 wrote. “They should force the company who manufactures the product to do it."