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Conagra Skimps Again: Wish-Bone Salad Dressing Watered Down

Shrinkflation’s evil cousin is “skimpflation” – where a manufacturer quietly reformulates a product with cheaper ingredients. And that is what Conagra just did to Wish-Bone House Italian salad dressing. They literally watered it down.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Wish-Bone House Italian

They reduced the oil content (and calories) by over 22-percent, and it appears they replaced it with water and over 30-percent more salt. (Water was already the primary ingredient in the dressing before this change.) Oddly, the amount of garlic was also reduced.

If this scenario sounds familiar, that is because last fall we spotlighted Smart Balance margarine when Conagra inconspicuously reduced its oil content by almost 40% and replaced it with water. That move made the front page of the New York Times, and drew outrage from regular users who posted over two thousand one-star reviews on its website. The backlash forced the company to reintroduce the original recipe earlier this year.

We asked Conagra about the watering down of their salad dressing including why they did it (we can guess to save money), why there was no flag on the label alerting shoppers, and whether they taste-tested the new recipe with users (we guess they didn’t). They have not responded to our questions.

If you want to post a complaint about their watered-down salad dressing, you can do it on the Wish-Bone website.

Thanks to Richard G. and Reddit for spotting this change.

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Fast Food Portion Sizes Often Misrepresented

Last week, we spotlighted a lawsuit filed against Taco Bell for selling some menu items that had much less filling than advertised. Many of you wrote that other fast food chains do the same thing.

Subway

This is a six-inch roast beef sandwich as pictured on the Subway website.

Subway roast beef

According to the nutrition section of their website, the six-inch sub has only 25 grams of protein, presumably all from the roast beef. According to a post of an employee of Subway, there is only about 2.5 ounces of roast beef in their six-inch sandwich.

Yet, the sandwich depicted above seems to have way more than that, perhaps about eight or nine thick slices of roast beef. What are the odds that your sandwich will look like the picture?

We asked the company to justify the difference, but they did not respond.

 

Arby’s

Arby’s, whose slogan is “We have the meats,” is best known for its roast beef sandwiches. Here are pictures from its website of the three sizes they offer:

Arby's 3 sizes of roast beef sandwiches

MrConsumer doesn’t have an Arby’s in his area, but suspects the sandwiches may not be piled quite as high as their photos depict.

In the case of the half pound roast beef, presumably you really do get eight ounces of meat, but this screen capture from a YouTube video suggests it is not piled as high as the advertisement suggests, and the meat is nowhere near as rare and appetizing looking.

Actual half pound Arby's roast beef

But let’s focus on their regular sandwich and the double meat size. The double meat one sure doesn’t look like double the size of the smaller one. And checking the nutrition guide on the Arby’s site, the analysis there proves it does not contain double the meat.

*MOUSE PRINT:

 
Arby's roast beef

The smaller sandwich has 23 grams of protein, presumably from the roast beef, but the double-size one only has 38 grams — not double.

We asked the company for an explanation, but they did not respond.

 

Fried Chicken Sandwiches

It seems like advertising for many restaurants’ chicken sandwiches come with a really thick piece of chicken. Here is KFC’s fried chicken sandwich:

KFC chicken sandwich

And here is KFC’s Ultimate Chicken sandwich as advertised in a TV commercial. It appears to be half the size of this man’s head.

KFC Ultimate Chicken Sandwich

 
Popeye’s fried chicken sandwiches have garnered rave reviews and their advertising also depicts them with a really big piece of chicken.

Popeye's fried chicken

Here is an actual Popeye’s fried chicken sandwich as captured in a YouTube video. It does seem pretty thick and similar to the advertising.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Actual Popeye's fried chicken sandwich

We don’t know how the actual chicken sandwiches you get at your local location of these chains compares to the pictures they use, but it seems unlikely the reality matches the advertising in all cases. Tell us what your experience has been in the comments.

If you find other examples of abundant meat in fast food advertising but what you get is much less, please submit pictures of both to edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org .

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Taco Bell Sued for Misrepresenting Portion Sizes

We have all seen fast food restaurant advertising where the burger or sandwich looks so piled high with so much meat and fixings, who could resist. The reality often is that what you are served is perhaps half the size of what was shown in the advertising.

Now a New York consumer says enough of this deception as he files a suit against Taco Bell for allegedly showing some of the specialties to be doubled their actual size.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme

Here, the Crunchwrap Supreme looks nothing like the advertisement in terms of the amount of meat or salad in it.

And below is how Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza is advertised versus what the consumer got served. [Spelling errors from the lawsuit.]

Mexican Pizza

The complaint goes on to allege:

Taco Bell materially overstates the amount of beef and/or ingredients contained in its advertisements for the Overstated Menu Items by at least double the amount. Taco Bell’s advertisements for the Overstated Menu Items are unfair and financially damaging to consumers as they are receiving a product that is materially lower in value than what is being promised. If Plaintiff knew that the Mexican Pizza contained half of the amount of beef and bean filling as advertised, he would not have purchased the Mexican Pizza and/or he would not have paid the $5.49 price that he paid for the Mexican Pizza.

The company is being sued for unfair, deceptive, and misleading practices. The consumer is seeking a stop to the misrepresentations and wants monetary damages for all similarly situated diners. Taco Bell has not responded to media requests for comments.

We hope other companies that advertise gargantuan sandwiches but serve you ones with much less meat will also find themselves in front of a judge.

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