A Kraft Heinz executive testified before the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs Committee that shrinkflation was not occurring when the amount of beans in a tin was decreased without a corresponding decrease in price.
Rather, Dominic Hawkins, the UK head of supply chain at the firm that makes Heinz beans and HP sauce, explained that the reduction from 51% to 50% of beans in a 415g tin was “to make it taste better” and “to improve the quality of our product”.
When questioned about the 800g to 600g reduction in Hellman’s mayonnaise packaging, a Unilever executive replied that while shrinkflation was not explicitly denied, the price of a key component had gone up dramatically.
According to Marc Woodward, CEO of Unilever’s UK and Ireland, “we would never go to using just the pack size to achieve a price if it wasn’t justified through the cost”.
