They were right: Older generations were eating better food

Authentic flavors of the past have been slowly fading away from the food of today. The main concerns include fresh fruits, rich chocolates, nuts, chicken, and red meat. Unfortunately, while these flavors are slipping away, there is at least a common “enemy” that one can point fingers to: Skimpflation.

Combining “skimpy” (stingy) and inflation, “Skimpflation” basically means manufacturers are skimping, or skipping processes that deliver high quality products to save costs. Even during covid, consumers have noticed a significant drop in the quality of food products both in markets and restaurants. This is all due to constantly rising prices of produce.

“Real” ingredients are harder to find

Today as prices keep rising, real ingredients become harder to find. High quality nuts are replaced with lower quality ones, the natural flavors replaced with flavoring agents and palm oil, and even less fruit extracts in juices. Not to mention, meat products staying on the shelves longer than they should in order to sell instead of replacing outdated products.

If customers have the opportunity to compare old recipes with current ones, it is worth a look, especially if there has been a lot of conversation and headlines around products that just do not taste the same anymore. When a new product comes forward with a “fresh new look”, it is worth a look to see how the nutritional values have transformed to get more “fresh”. It is also worth noting that there is a movement to lower unhealthy agents in food products as well (such as fat and sugar), but it requires great attention from consumers. 

What are some items that have lost their old taste?

Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg lists items that have already been discovered to have lost value in their well articulated list here. You can see items such as Capri sun, cinnamon cereal, fruit juice, and more in their list.

Skimpflation and Shrinkflation hand in hand

In addition to skimpflation, customers should also watch out for “Shrinkflation” which means a drastic change in product size has been observed in the markets. It is uncertain how this trend will continue in the following years as a trend. However there is clarity that previous generations consumed better products than today's generations.

It is worth noting that there are possibilities to avoid these phenomena:

• Growing your own produce (organic too!)

• Paying attention to labels and recipes of products 

• Shopping locally 

• Resorting to trusted products when needed

• Also apps to help consumers to detect harmful products like Yuka!

Image by CDC via Unsplash