“It’s shocking”: after Bruno Le Maire, Élisabeth Borne, in turn, raised her voice against “shrinkflation”. Behind this term lies a practice carried out by certain manufacturers which consists of reducing the format of a product, while maintaining or increasing its price. And the Prime Minister wants to “ban it”, as she said on Saturday in an interview with Le Parisien.
“From November, all products affected by changes in quantity will have to indicate this on the labels to no longer mislead the consumer,” she added. On Monday, Bruno Le Maire detailed this measure on France 2: “We will pass through a legislative text to oblige manufacturers, when they reduce the container, to display it clearly”. “It must be done in a compulsory and restrictive manner, otherwise I suspect that manufacturers are likely to not respect” this measure, added the Minister of Economy and Finance, who had already qualified this practice “ of scam”.
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However, manufacturers are already obliged to indicate the weight of their products and to highlight it if it has changed. But some do not hesitate to write it in a tiny font, or even not to mention it. If Élisabeth Borne wanted this practice banned next November, Bruno Le Maire is instead aiming for “early 2024”, “time to notify the European Commission”. For the moment, the government has not yet communicated on the means implemented to control new packaging from manufacturers.