Rossen Reports: Can you spot the 'skimpflation' food?

Hey. Yeah, I've told you about shrink flay shin before. That's when food or drink companies downsize their products. They give you less stuff, but keep the price the same. So you can't really tell when you're looking on the shelf. But get this, there's *** new phenomenon happening that I just found it's called boom skimp inflation. It's where you pay the same amount. The quantity is the same. But this time there's been *** change in the ingredients of the product, how they make it. I'm about to show you some real life examples right now. It's happening on store shelves everywhere. Why supply chain issues and inflation aren't just hitting you? They're hitting food companies to instead of raising the price or shrinking the product, they decide to reformulate the product often with cheaper ingredients. That's Edgar Dworsky, founder of Consumer World dot org. He's been tracking groceries for decades. First up, we're starting with the home essential toilet paper scott's famous 1000 roll toilet paper. Well, they can't do much about downsizing the number of sheets. It's not going to be scott. 857 all of *** sudden. So what did they do? They probably made the sheets *** little thinner and people are complaining about that. How do you test it? I said ah let's wave them. First. Edgar weighs *** four pack of scott's 1000 he bought years ago. It's £2 and 20.2 ounces and the new four pack that's on shelves now. This is £1 7.6 ounces. That's right. Still 1000 sheets. But *** lot less toilet paper. Rawson reports reached out to scott's parent company Kimberly clark but didn't hear back now, check out this next example hungry man double chicken bowl, It's the same meal, same size, same overall weight. But there's been *** change. The old hungry man dinner has 39 g of protein, but this new one on store shelves has only 33 g. That's 15% less protein. Whether it's less chicken or an ingredient change is unclear. You think it's *** trick? It's absolutely *** trick because there's almost no disclosure on the package that you're getting something different from what you're used to get. But he says, this next example is classics inflation. What do we have here, margarine? Well, this is smart balance. Take *** look at these two packages, Tell me what the difference is. I study the labels side by side, they look the same. I can't tell one is the old one, the other is the new one. Can you tell the difference? I'll give you *** moment. Oh, I see it now. This one over here has 64% vegetable oils. This one only has 39% vegetable oils. That's *** 40% reduction. Could they have made the font any smaller than that? I would never see this on the shelf. So what have they done? They actually reduce the oil content and instead replace it with water. So when you look at the ingredients statement, The old ingredient statement said vegetable oil was the number one ingredient and what is this one? Look at that one. Water is the number one ingredient now. Right. Conagra, the parent company of smart balance and hungry man, didn't comment but check this out after honey. Hundreds of negative reviews about the new margarine. The company is apparently listening, its customer care, responding online. We are working on getting the old formula back on shelf and consumers can expect to find their old formula on shelf late fall, early winter. We'll put my own tips on how to save money while grocery shopping on my website, Rawson Reports dot com. And by the way, there's *** ton of stuff there too, *** lot of stuff, *** lot of topics back to you.

Prices at the grocery store are still at an all-time high, but you need to watch out for another way that you could be paying more for less quality.Shrinkflation is when food or drink companies downsize their products, basically giving you less stuff for the same price. Now, there's a new phenomenon called skimpflation, where you pay the same amount for the same quantity, but there's been a change in the ingredients of the product.Edgar Dworsky is the founder of ConsumerWorld.org. He’s been tracking groceries for decades."Instead of raising the price or shrinking the product – they decide to reformulate the product. Often with cheaper ingredients," Dworsky said.Here are some real-life examples of skimpflation. First up is Scott’s famous 1,000-roll toilet paper."Well, they can’t do much about downsizing the number of sheets. It’s not going to be Scott’s 857 all of the sudden. So what do they do? They probably made the sheets a little thinner, and people are complaining about that," Dworsky said. To test, Dworsky weighed the toilet paper and found that the four-pack he bought years ago weighed 2 pounds, 0.2 ounces. The four-pack that's on shelves now weighs 1 pound, 7.6 ounces.It's still 1,000 sheets, but a lot less toilet paper. Rossen Reports reached out to Scott’s parent company Kimberly-Clark but didn’t hear back.Then, there's the Hungry-Man double chicken bowl.It’s the same meal, same size, and same overall weight -- but there’s been a change. The old Hungry-Man dinner has 39 grams of protein.But this new one on store shelves only has 33 grams. That’s 15% less protein. Whether it's less chicken or an ingredient change is unclear.When asked if skimpflation is a trick, Dworsky said, "It’s absolutely a trick because there's almost no disclosure on the package that you’re getting something different than what you used to get." The next product is what Dworsky calls classic skimpflation. While examining two packages of Smart Balance margarine side by side, one clear difference popped up. The previous version had 64% vegetable oils, while the new version only has 39%."They actually reduced the oil content and replaced it with water. So if you look at the ingredient statement, the old ingredient statement says vegetable oil is the number one ingredient," Dworsky said.In the new version, water is the number one ingredient. Conagra – the parent company of Smart Balance and Hungry-Man — didn’t comment. After hundreds of negative reviews about the new margarine, it said in its online response to one review, "We are working on getting the old formula back on shelf and consumers can expect to find their old formula on shelf late fall / early winter.”Want to stay savvy? Here are some sites that can help you be a smarter consumer:Grocery Shopping TipsStore Brand vs. Name Brand

Prices at the grocery store are still at an all-time high, but you need to watch out for another way that you could be paying more for less quality.

Shrinkflation is when food or drink companies downsize their products, basically giving you less stuff for the same price. Now, there's a new phenomenon called skimpflation, where you pay the same amount for the same quantity, but there's been a change in the ingredients of the product.

Edgar Dworsky is the founder of ConsumerWorld.org. He’s been tracking groceries for decades.

"Instead of raising the price or shrinking the product – they decide to reformulate the product. Often with cheaper ingredients," Dworsky said.

Here are some real-life examples of skimpflation.

First up is Scott’s famous 1,000-roll toilet paper.

"Well, they can’t do much about downsizing the number of sheets. It’s not going to be Scott’s 857 all of the sudden. So what do they do? They probably made the sheets a little thinner, and people are complaining about that," Dworsky said.

To test, Dworsky weighed the toilet paper and found that the four-pack he bought years ago weighed 2 pounds, 0.2 ounces. The four-pack that's on shelves now weighs 1 pound, 7.6 ounces.

It's still 1,000 sheets, but a lot less toilet paper. Rossen Reports reached out to Scott’s parent company Kimberly-Clark but didn’t hear back.

Then, there's the Hungry-Man double chicken bowl.

It’s the same meal, same size, and same overall weight -- but there’s been a change. The old Hungry-Man dinner has 39 grams of protein.

But this new one on store shelves only has 33 grams. That’s 15% less protein. Whether it's less chicken or an ingredient change is unclear.

When asked if skimpflation is a trick, Dworsky said, "It’s absolutely a trick because there's almost no disclosure on the package that you’re getting something different than what you used to get."

The next product is what Dworsky calls classic skimpflation.

While examining two packages of Smart Balance margarine side by side, one clear difference popped up. The previous version had 64% vegetable oils, while the new version only has 39%.

"They actually reduced the oil content and replaced it with water. So if you look at the ingredient statement, the old ingredient statement says vegetable oil is the number one ingredient," Dworsky said.

In the new version, water is the number one ingredient.

Conagra – the parent company of Smart Balance and Hungry-Man — didn’t comment.

After hundreds of negative reviews about the new margarine, it said in its online response to one review, "We are working on getting the old formula back on shelf and consumers can expect to find their old formula on shelf late fall / early winter.”

Want to stay savvy? Here are some sites that can help you be a smarter consumer:

Grocery Shopping Tips

Store Brand vs. Name Brand