Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

Here We Shrink Again – Spring 2025

Shrinkflation slowed a little in early 2025, but now seems to be picking up a bit again. Here are some more products that have been downsized over the past six months or so.

Simply Orange Orange Juice

Except for store brand orange juice which in some cases is still 64 ounces, brand name OJ has had a steady decline in size going from 64 oz. to 59 oz. to 52 oz. and now to 46 oz. The latest casualty is Simply Orange whose carafes are now just 46 ounces. And in MrConsumer’s Stop & Shop, the price actually went UP 10 cents to $4.89! To look at the bottles head-on, it is hard to see how you lost a full glass of OJ in each one. You may be able to find old and new bottles side-by-side in your local supermarket right now.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Simply Orange 52 to 46 oz

Thanks to Richard G. for spotting this change.


Ruffles

Potato chip bags have been downsized for decades. The latest example is Ruffles whose bags are now down to 8.5 ounces from nine ounces. But rest assured, you’ll still get the same amount of air or perhaps a bit more in each bag.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Ruffles


Tide

Another category where there has been a lot of resizing is laundry detergents. The latest trend seems to be to keep the number of loads you get the same, but with fewer ounces of the product.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Tide 14 oz. less

In this case, big bottles of Tide shrank by 14 ounces, but you still supposedly could get 100 itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie loads of laundry out of every bottle. The difference is usually explained by having some amount of water removed from the formulation. That makes the stuff more concentrated so you can use a little less in each wash load. Raise your hand if you actually do use less!

*MOUSE PRINT:

Tide 250 - 225 oz

Less popular these days is powdered detergent, but that doesn’t exempt them from being downsized. Here, 25 ounces was removed from each box, but you still theoretically are able to get 143 loads out of it. The question becomes what unnecessary ingredient have they removed from this dry product that doesn’t affect its cleaning ability? It certainly is not water. Thanks to Brendan B. for spotting this change at Costco.


Bounty Paper Towels

Paper products is another big category where we find shrinkflation. In this case, earlier this year, P&G downsized Bounty. In this case, their triple rolls went for 135 sheets down to 123. Thanks to both Richard G. and Brendan B. for spotting this.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Bounty lost a dozen sheets


Crystal Light

With summer not too far away, don’t expect your Crystal Light packages to make as many bottles of lemonade as before. The old six-pack has become a four-pack.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Crystal Light


Pure Leaf Tea

Another summertime beverage also is now giving you less per bottle — Pure Leaf tea. The half gallon bottles lost five ounces and are now just 59 ounces. But the bottles are about the same height. One trick they used was making the cap larger. They also had to taper the bottle, it appears. Thanks to Denise H. for this submission.

CORRECTION: Both these sizes still exist. The larger one is a shelf-stable product in the grocery/beverages section, while the smaller one is sold in the refrigerated case, unchanged. Thanks to Kevin M. for the clarification.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Pure Leaf tea


If you spot a product that was downsized, please provide details and try to submit a picture showing the old and new side-by-side as you see above to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org. Thanks.

Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

Here We Skimp Again — Annie’s Shells & Cheddar

The new packages of Annie’s Shells and Aged Cheddar proclaim that the new recipe is cheesier.

Annie's shells

But the ingredients don’t exactly shout new and improved.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Annie's ingredients

Annie's cheesier

While cheese is still the predominant ingredient, the new cheesier version has had the butter and skim milk removed and corn starch – a thickener – added. The amount of salt has gone up. Worse, the amount of protein and calcium has gone down when one might have expected it to increase if there is more cheese in the product.

Many recent reviews on the company’s website pan the new recipe, saying things like:

Annie's review

Will companies never learn?

Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

Skimpflation Hits Imperial Margarine

We told you a couple of years ago how Conagra inconspicuously reformulated Smart Balance margarine by reducing its fat content from 64% to 39%.

Now comes the Flora Food Group (formerly Upfield), the maker of Imperial margarine, tinkering with the recipe for its product.

When it was advertised in the ’70s, Imperial had 80% vegetable oil, tasted like butter they said, and made you “feel like a king.”

Boy how times have changed. (For purposes of this story, we will still refer to the product as “margarine” although it no longer meets the legal definition since it has less than 80% fat.)

*MOUSE PRINT:

Imperial margarine

The most recent previous version had 53% vegetable oil. Clearly there had to have been many interim versions to get from 80% down to just 53%. Now, the current version has only 48%. And the calories dropped from 70 per tablespoon down to 60.

How did they accomplish this? Like Smart Balance, they literally watered down the product. Looking at the nutrition label reveals the change.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Imperial nutrition label

In the previous version of Imperial, vegetable oil was the primary ingredient. In the current version, water predominates. But strangely, the fat content remains seven grams per serving. How is that possible?

We asked Flora for an explanation. All a company spokesperson would say is:

Regarding the nutritional information on the label, the serving size and nutritional values are determined through detailed analytical testing in accordance with FDA guidelines. While the overall fat content of the product has been adjusted, the fat content per serving is declared accurately in accordance with FDA guidelines.

Perhaps it is a rounding issue on the number of grams of fat. Who knows?