Food/Groceries

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Robitussin Puts Non-Drowsy Lawsuit to Bed

In 2022, two different consumers sued the makers of Robitussin alleging that package claims of the products being non-drowsy were false and misleading. (See complaint.)

In particular, the suits said that one of the active ingredients in these cough suppressants, dextromethorphan (DXM), was actually known to cause drowsiness. Further, the complaints alleged that the “drug facts” disclosure on the back of the boxes did not warn about possible drowsiness.

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Robitussin DM

The plaintiffs also cited various medical studies supporting the fact that DXM could make one sleepy, and pointed out that the Federal Aviation Administration advised pilots not to fly if they have taken it.

In 2023, the case was decided in favor of the manufacturer on the theory that the state law consumer violations cited were pre-empted by the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act governing drug products like this. The consumers appealed.

Despite that, the parties negotiated with each other since the court decision, and came to a settlement of the claims for $4.5-million. The company has agreed to discontinue the non-drowsy claims. Purchasers as far back as 2016 may be entitled to between $1.50 and $4.75 per claim. More details will be available after a judge signs off on the agreement.

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How Skimpflation Works in Restaurants

In October last year, Red Robin announced an upgrade — that it had a “new and improved lineup of gourmet burgers” that were “juicier and more flavorful.”

This August, Red Robin further announced a limited time promotion for a gourmet cheeseburger and unlimited fries for $10. No doubt, this is a pretty good deal given fast food prices and portion sizes today.

Red Robin $10 promotion

One Red Robin regular, WiseSofa1748, commented on their burgers in the following post, saying they are not as good as they used to be because the reason they are juicier is that they are fattier.

The new burgers they use suck. The old ones they had for years and years were so good. I asked the store manager when I last went and she told me it was really to cut costs, they went to a less lean, cheaper cut of beef that allowed it to be “juicier” aka more fat and slightly bigger bc its a crappier cut. It doesn’t taste near as good. Same for the bun and cheese she said, both were swapped out and Red Robin claimed it was for taste but as always it was to save a buck.

Are the consumer and the manager right? We did a little detective work to compare the current nutritional disclosures for their gournet cheeseburger with the previous listing from a year earlier, excerpted below.

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Red Robin Nutritional comparison

Indeed, the amount of fat content went up, while the amount of protein went down. Since the company announced that it was making its burgers bigger and juicier last year, that could account for the increase in fat. However, the amount of protein should have gone up too if the company maintained the same lean to fat ratio.

We made multiple requests of the company to find out if they made the alleged changes to their burgers, but they did not respond.

While the media focuses on shrinkflation a lot these days, skimpflation is even more insidious. With shrinkflation, at least you can objectively discover when a product shrinks. But with skimpflation, product tweaks or reformulations are not generally announced or easy to discern.

We don’t know the recipes used by restaurants, the exact portion size you normally get, the grades of meat they buy, the quality or quantity of all the ingredients used in a dish, etc. So it is even easier to tinker with these things and most consumers would be none the wiser.

If you spot an example of skimpflation, please send the details and any proof you can unearth to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org. Thanks.

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Here We Shrink Again – Summer 2024 – Part 2

We conclude our two-part series this week about products that have recently been downsized (shrinkflation).

Brawny Paper Towels

Paper towel manufacturers seem to always be reducing the number of paper towels on each roll and sometimes even the dimensions of each sheet. This time, the tear-a-square variety went from 120 sheets on a roll to just 100, but each sheet on the new one is 4/10th of an inch longer.

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Brawny paper towels

Maxwell House 100% Columbian Coffee

Remember when cans of ground coffee were a full pound? Over the decades, the contents have been continually whittled down to the point where you don’t even have 10 ounces of coffee in them, like this variety that was just downsized. And the big canisters lost almost an ounce and a half.

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Maxwell House 100% Columbian

Maxwell House Columbian

Gillette Custom Plus 3

Nick B. buys his razor blades at Costco and he sent us this picture showing that their 36 packs of Gillette Custom Plus 3 razors now only have 30 of them — a 17-percent reduction. And the price stayed the same at $31.99.

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Gillette blades

Kellogg’s Special K Red Berries Cereal

Kellogg’s has been busy this year reducing the contents of various of its cereal varieties. This one is particularly surprising because the new box is actually taller than the old box! How is that possible? They made the new box more narrow.

The contents went from 16.9 ounces down to 15.6 — the equivalent of losing one bowl of cereal in every package.

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Special K Red Berry

Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste

Like so many brands, Tom’s of Maine is shrinking their tubes of toothpaste. This time, the already small 4.7-ounce size went down to just four ounces.

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Tom's of Maine

DiGiorno Rising Crust Pizza

Consumers lost almost three ounces of pepperoni pizza in these boxes. At least the new one no longer says “33% more.” Thanks to our ace shrinkflation spotter, Richard G., for finding this.

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DiGiorno pizza

Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortillas

If you didn’t check the number of Mission tortillas you were getting in the package, you might not have realized the old eight-count pack now only has six tortillas — a 25-percent reduction. Thanks to Devin B. for this submission.

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Mission tortillas

Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Crunch

In another downsizing where Kellogg’s has made the new package taller but narrower, almost two ounces was removed from Raisin Bran Crunch boxes, and the price stayed the same. Thanks, Richard G., for spotting this.

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Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch

Lesser Evil Popcorn

Andie S. told us about Lesser Evil popcorn which has been reduced in size by almost 10 percent. The five-ounce bag is now 4.6 ounces. Popcorn kernels are so cheap, it is hard to imagine why any company has to skimp on them.

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Lesser Evil Popcorn

Green Mount K-Cups

Steven C. alerted us to a change in the number of k-cup pods that are in Green Mountain boxes. Their smallest box just went from 12 cups to 10… and the price stayed the same.

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Green Mountain K-Cups

If you spot a product that has been recently downsized, please take a picture of the old version and the new version, showing the net weight or net count, and email it to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org . Thanks.