平特五不中

If you鈥檝e noticed that聽certain products in the grocery store聽taste different from how you remember, it鈥檚 possible some of their ingredients have been swapped for cheaper alternatives.聽

Experts say food producers are increasingly changing the ingredients in products to cut costs聽amid soaring food prices and labour shortages鈥攁 practice known as 鈥渟kimpflation.鈥� Could our health be at stake?

鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what (impacts) a cocktail of subpar ingredients could have in the long run on humans,鈥� illustrates 平特五不中 agronomist and economist Pascal Th茅riault, director of 平特五不中's Farm Management and Technology Program.

He talks about the replacement of whole ingredients by extracts, such as cocoa that becomes cocoa extract, so that a cereal bar no longer contains chocolate.

Skimpflation is the little brother of shrinkflation, which consists in reducing the quantity of a product in the packaging, and which constitutes a price increase. The problem with both is that manufacturers don't have to declare it.

鈥淯ltimately, the consumer gets less for their money 鈥� that鈥檚 a given,鈥� Th茅riault told the Star.

We spend an average of 30 minutes in the grocery store, where there are 50,000 products, which means we see 25 per second. "We certainly don't have time to look at or remember the ingredients."

As a result, Th茅riault advises shoppers to stick with products with a smaller list of ingredients 鈥� companies are less likely to change these recipes as alterations will be more noticeable by consumers, he said.

On the flip side, less processed foods like meat, vegetables, dairy and more are usually safe from skimpflation 鈥� 鈥渢he closer you get to the agricultural commodities, the less likely you are to have a product that has gone through skimpflation.鈥�

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