‘Shrinkflation’ has nothing to do with Brexit
23 January 2019
SUGGESTED
Government and Institutions
The IEA reacts to the launch of Davos 2019
22 January 2019
In the Media
Amy Horscroft writes for City AM
25 January 2019
External Authors
Chris Snowdon writes for CapX
Chris Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs has written for CapX on shrinkflation.
In his article Chris points out that when Public Health England first set out on this quixotic crusade, food companies were expected to reformulate their products to meet these arbitrary targets.
Viewing sugar, fat, salt and calories as unnecessary contaminants in the food supply, PHE seemed to think that they could be removed as easily as a fly from a bowl of soup. Once it dawned on the bureaucrats that sugar is integral to a bar of chocolate, and calories are inherent in a biscuit, they settled for portion size reduction. Companies would no longer be judged on how much sugar was in 100 grams of a product, but by how much was in a standard portion.
For a vast range of products, shrinkage is the only way to meet the targets.
Read the full article here.
In his article Chris points out that when Public Health England first set out on this quixotic crusade, food companies were expected to reformulate their products to meet these arbitrary targets.
Viewing sugar, fat, salt and calories as unnecessary contaminants in the food supply, PHE seemed to think that they could be removed as easily as a fly from a bowl of soup. Once it dawned on the bureaucrats that sugar is integral to a bar of chocolate, and calories are inherent in a biscuit, they settled for portion size reduction. Companies would no longer be judged on how much sugar was in 100 grams of a product, but by how much was in a standard portion.
For a vast range of products, shrinkage is the only way to meet the targets.
Read the full article here.
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