In a recent edition of VRT News’ podcast ‘Mens erger je niet’ our colleague Tim Verheyden was far from happy: "My bag of crisps is only half full of crisps, the other half is just air." But why is there so much air in a packet of crisps, the VRTs consumer affairs teams investigates.
So why is there so much air in a bag of crisps? The packaging expert Bart Calis told VRT News that "That air is needed to keep your crisps crispier for longer. It also prevents them from breaking during transport". However, Leuven University’s (KUL) retail expert Els Breugelmans says that “Shrinkflation can also play a role”.
The VRT News journalist Tim Verheyden is disappointed every time he opens a bag of crisps. "It's only half full with chips, the other half is just air." But why is this the case? Bart Calis is a packaging expert and lecturer at the Artevelde College of Higher Education in Ghent (East Flanders). He says that the air is as there for a reason. "The composition of the air inside a bag of crisps is such that it keeps the chips crispier for longer and also enable them to be stored for longer".
The packaging expert adds that the air also has an additional function. "Thanks to the air inside the bag an air cushion is created around the crisps and this physically protects them during transportation and stops them from getting crushed. Nobody wants to open a bag of crisps to find nothing but broken chips. So that air is definitely needed."
"By the way, it does not benefit the manufacturer at all to put more air than necessary into the bag. The more air in there is in the bag, the fewer crisps they can transport. That is an additional cost for the manufacturer and therefore not an interesting strategy financially. I can only recommend looking carefully at the net content given if you want to be sure of the amount of crisps in the bag", Bart Calis concludes.
Nevertheless, Tim Verheyden might be justified in thinking that his bag of crisps is less full than it used to be. "There is a new phenomenon where producers are filling the same packs with less content but keeping the price. We call this 'shrinkflation'. The practice is being used more and more by producers," the Leuven University (KUL) retail and marketing expert Els Breugelmans says.
"In times of inflation, producers look for solutions to compensate for higher production costs. The same packaging, less content, but the same price. It's just a new way of passing on the higher production costs to the customer."
Are producers allowed to do this?
Are producers allowed to reduce content and maintain the price? Els Breugelmans says that "In principle, they are not doing anything wrong. If the contents are displayed correctly on the packaging, then the customer knows perfectly well how many grammes of crisps they are buying. But its difficult to compare. Because who remembers how much was in a packet of crisps previously ? Hardly anyone keeps track of that. But as a result of this customers quite justifiably get the feeling that they have been short-changed.”
Else Breugelmans adds that in some countries things are done differently. “For example, in France. legislation has been brought in that requires producers to inform consumers of changes of this nature. Retailers have to put a label on the shelves when the amount contained in a packet of a particular item has changed."
"Thanks to that label, consumers are notified that a product has recently been reduced in quantity. In Belgium, there is no such legislation at the moment".