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Too Much Shrinkage

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

You're not hallucinating. The food you buy is being sold in smaller packages to compensate for the rising cost of ingredients and the amount of money it takes to bring goods to consumers.

Keeping an eye on all of it is Edgar Dworsky, editor of the consumer education Web site Mouseprint.org, which claims to expose "the strings and catches buried in the fine print." Among his finds:

Cereals: Packages of 14 items sold under the brands Apple Jacks, Cocoa Krispies, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks are down by an average of 2.4 ounces.

Orange juice: Large jugs by Tropicana are 89 ounces, down from 96 ounces.

Peanut butter: The Skippy brand sells in packages of 16.3 ounces, down from 18 ounces.

Mayonnaise: Some jars of Hellmann's are 30 ounces rather than 32 ounces.

Gum: Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. sells such brands as Juicy Fruit, Big Red, Doublemint and Winterfresh in 15-stick packages, down from 17.

Jeff Houck

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