‘Shrinkflation’: Posters warning consumers will soon appear in supermarkets

The government will force supermarkets to display a poster warning consumers of reduced quantities of product at unchanged prices, Trade Minister Olivia Gregoire promised in an interview with Ouest-France.

“From July 1, when products (food or non-food, for that matter) will be heat shrink products “, in other words, their quantity will decrease, but not their prices, “the poster will sit on the shelf for two months,” Olivia Gregoire said in an interview published online Thursday evening.

Decree “on the Prime Minister’s desk”

This poster “will read: for this product, the quantity sold increased from X to Y and its price per kilogram, gram or liter increased by X% or X euros. “, she clarified.

The decree, “signed on April 16,” is currently “on the Prime Minister’s desk” and “should be published” in the Official Journal “in the coming days,” the minister assured.

What is Shrinkflation?

Shrinkflation, from the English verb “shrink”, involves consumer goods manufacturers, agricultural producers or distributors reducing the quantity of products they sell rather than raising prices too significantly.

Distributor Carrefour, for example, has sharply reduced the quantity of its “first price” vegetables to keep them under €1, as the media reminded 60 million consumers in December, recalling a switch from three salads to two or cutting a third of portions. potato fillet.

“We regret this”

“If the decree comes out, we will comply with it and apply it, but we regret it,” Dominique Schoelcher, head of Système U’s fourth French distributor, said in January.

“It’s the manufacturer who knows that their packaging has been reduced, that the recipe has been questioned,” he said, fearing a “waste of time” for store employees.

The minister also indicated that she wants this obligation to fall on producers rather than distributors in the future, and this at European level, during the “review of consumer information about food in Europe in 2025.”