The government has presented to Brussels a draft decree that obliges supermarkets to explain in more detail, before March, cases of “counterinflation” or “redflation”, when the quantities of a product are reduced with an invariable price or even higher.
The objective is to avoid unpleasant surprises for consumers, otherwise prices could be lowered.
The Ministry of Economy is working on a draft decree between now and March “to respond to consumers’ demand to be better informed in the event of ‘counterinflation’ of certain products,” the Ministry of Economy’s office told AFP on Tuesday. Economy. of Commerce Olivia Grégoire.
The order is sent to Brussels to check compliance with a 2015 European directive on the transparency of technical standards.
Behind the Anglicism – from the English verb “shrink”, to shrink, and of which there is a French-speaking equivalent, reduflation -, there is hidden a practice of manufacturers of consumer products, agro-industrial companies or distributors, consisting of reducing the quantities of products sold rather than significantly increasing prices.
Less meat or fries
This practice, which also exists in restaurants (a slightly lighter steak, or a few less fries, for the same price), is legal as long as the mention of the weight of the food is modified.
It is not necessarily to deceive the consumer that manufacturers change quantities: it may be to align with the competition or to avoid crossing a price threshold such that it would drive the buyer away from the product.
The distributor Carrefour, for example, had drastically reduced the quantities of its “first price” vegetables to below 1 euro, the media reminded 60 million consumers in December, evoking the transition from three to two salads or reducing one third of the potato fillet.
The same distributor reported a few weeks later on its shelves that some of its suppliers had reduced the weight of certain products: thirty references among thousands in a supermarket and tens of thousands in a hypermarket.
The government plans to require supermarkets to include, in the references whose portions have been reduced, the words:
“For this product, the quantity sold increased, as consulted by AFP on Monday.
This notice must be placed “directly on the packaging or on a label attached to or placed near this product, in a visible and legible manner,” the text specifies.
The Kiri case
The draft decree has been submitted to the opinion of the European Commission, indicates the office of Olivia Grégoire, confirming information from the specialized media LSA. “If the Commission does not comment on the notified draft, publication in the Official Journal could take place at the end of March 2024.”
In mid-December, distribution sector specialist Philippe Goetzmann published an opinion in collaboration with the Jean Jaurès Foundation on this quantity reduction practice.
The specialist recalled that “prices are free, as are weights” and that quantity reductions “are generally accompanied by changes in the recipe.” How then can we know what constitutes a food “innovation” – a change in the recipe, for example with less sugar or salt – and what is simply a hidden price increase?
Recently the case of the famous Kiri processed cheese arose. In September 2022, the consumer advocacy association Foodwatch, which was the first to alert consumers about “counterinflation”, cited the famous square as a product that had been reduced by 10%, going from 20 to 18 g.
But the agribusiness behind the brand, Bel, had contested the redflation accusation, arguing that the cheese is now sold “in a new, more natural recipe, without additives” and made in France with French milk.
In any case, it does not seem likely that the measure will lower prices on the shelves. Food prices have risen more than 20% on average in two years.
Source: BFM TV
