Anyone who thinks that supermarket shopping only puts you in a bad mood because of the increased prices should take a look at Great Britain. The British are not only struggling with inflation, but also with the consequences of Brexit. Not only are they confronted with higher prices in the store, but sometimes also with sensitive gaps on the shelves.
For some Britons, however, the price increase of a certain product is particularly "shocking". Whiskas cat food has become more expensive and some cat lovers are reacting emotionally, the British Guardian reports. Many customers have been complaining bitterly on Whiskas' Facebook page for weeks.
What the cat friends particularly resent the Whiskas manufacturer Mars: In order to disguise the price increase, he has made the cans smaller. The previous 100 gram cans now contain only 85 grams. Such hidden price increases are common among food manufacturers. But: The little kitties can't tell you that the meal suddenly seems smaller to them.
And so some Britons have apparently involuntarily put their cats on a diet. "It took me a few weeks to figure out why the pets were still hungry after feeding them," explains one cat owner. He will now switch to another brand because it has become too expensive to feed Whiskas "as much as I love my cats". Another Whiskas customer writes that "shrinkflation" is probably fine for human snacking, "but it's just not fair for cats to cut back on solid meals." In addition, some customers also criticize that tastes have changed and that their cats don't like the food as much as they used to.
One user posted the response he received from Whiskas to his complaint on Facebook. "We recently made a change and the new weight is consistent with feline nutrition research," it said. Most cat owners feed a mix of wet and dry food, and an 80 to 85 gram serving meets the recommendations of the Waltham Petcare Science Institute. This is a research institute owned by Whiskas manufacturer Mars itself.
The Guardian quotes the US manufacturer as saying that Mars is "not immune" to global inflationary pressures. We are seeing significant increases in the cost of raw materials and have decided to maintain the list price for the Whiskas pouches. In-store pricing is ultimately up to retailers.
Sources: Guardian / Facebook
