Food/Groceries

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Paper Products Downsized

With higher prices for oil and raw materials, paper products companies are downsizing their products, again. Here are two more examples:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Going from 216 to 200 tissues per box is a reduction of almost seven and half percent. The clever folks at P&G don’t put the count anywhere but on the perforated strip that you remove when opening the box, so you have no way of double-checking from purchase to purchase how many tissues were in your last box. (Thanks to Rodney G. for the tip about Puffs.)

*MOUSE PRINT:

While it is true that no one is likely to miss that extra 1/8th of an inch, the maker of Dixie plates must have thought the savings were significant enough to invest money in the retooling and repackaging. One-eight of an inch times millions of plates adds up.

It is curious, however, that while the plates’ diameter in inches has shrunk, the diameter in centimeters appears to have increased from 21-cm to 21.5-cm. Whoever said the metric system made more sense?

Few people are likely to have caught these changes because they were done so inconspicuously.

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Where’s the Fresh Tomatoes?

Last week, the National Consumers League (NCL) called on the FDA to warn food manufacturers that they may be violating federal law by using tomato sauce product labels that suggest that fresh-picked tomatoes are in their tomato sauce when in fact their products are mainly from concentrate.

NCL cited several examples. Example 1:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Here, the label suggests that the product is just ripe red tomatoes and basil, when in fact the first two ingredients are water and tomato paste.

A spokesperson for Heinz responded to NCL’s charges, saying:

“We are surprised by the NCL’s claim that Classico Tomato & Basil pasta sauce is not made from ripe, red tomatoes. The two primary ingredients in are tomato puree and diced tomatoes, both of which are made from ripe, red tomatoes that are picked and processed at the peak of freshness.”

Example 2:

*MOUSE PRINT:

In this case, the front of the jar shows fresh tomatoes, but the ingredients show that it only has water and tomato paste as the primary ingredients, not even diced tomatoes as some other brands do.

Example 3:

*MOUSE PRINT:

In this case, the front label says “Roma style tomatoes” and shows fresh vine-rippened tomatoes, while the back says “Our vine-ripened Roma style tomatoes are grown to a rich red color before picking…” This product too is made from just water and tomato paste.

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You Can’t Judge a Cereal by its Cover

An alert consumer recently called into a radio program wondering why the Post Raisin Bran he bought at Costco tasted so different from the Post Raisin Bran purchased at a conventional supermarket. Was Post making a cheaper version of its Raisin Bran to sell at the discount warehouse he wondered?

Here’s the scoop, so to speak.

The product on the left is the latest version carried in supermarkets, while the one on the right is available only at Costco. You’ll note at the top of the box on the right is the Costco store brand “Kirkland”. A look at the ingredients labels sheds light on what’s going on here.

*MOUSE PRINT:

The recipes look nothing alike. A notable difference is that the Costco version might have more raisins since it is listed first in the ingredients list, while the original Post version has wheat flour first. If in fact it has more raisins that would make it more expensive, not cheaper.

*MOUSE PRINT:

With respect to nutrition, they both contain 190 calories a cup, but Post contains over double the salt, and a little more fiber and sugar. Costco has a bit more fat. Each brand has a different array of vitamins and percentages.

So what is the story behind the story here? According to a customer service representative at Post, Costco asked Post to develop a recipe for a private brand of raisin bran to be sold under the joint Kirkland/Post label. The Kirkland version uses different raisins and different flakes. The product is not manufactured by Post for Costco, according to the representative. He could not speak to the economics behind the two recipes.

So that solves the mystery of the tale of two raisin brans.