Food Giants Face "Skimpflation" Backlash
Legacy food companies are under pressure as consumers push back on ingredient quality. The heir to the Reese's candy fortune is publicly targeting The Hershey Company for "skimpflation" — quietly reducing quality. Meanwhile, competitors like Ferrero are restructuring lines to meet demand for better ingredients.
The public criticism of Hershey's comes from Brad Reese, grandson of H.B. Reese, who invented the iconic Peanut Butter Cups. He specifically called out products like Reese's Take5 and Fast Break bars for no longer using milk chocolate, and White Reese's for switching from white chocolate to a "white creme." In response, Hershey stated the classic Reese's Peanut Butter Cup recipe remains unchanged, but acknowledged making "product recipe adjustments" for newer shapes and innovations. The company's CFO noted that formula changes have been made carefully to maintain the taste profile with "no consumer impact whatsoever." The practice has been dubbed "skimpflation," where manufacturers reformulate products with cheaper ingredients to cut production costs while the price stays the same. Other examples include reducing the percentage of pork in sausages, using "chocolatey coating" instead of milk chocolate in granola bars, or replacing real fruit in yogurt with artificial flavors. These recipe modifications are legal as long as the new ingredients are listed correctly. U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations, for example, set strict standards for what can be legally marketed as "milk chocolate," based on minimum percentages of chocolate liquor and milk solids. In contrast to these accusations, Ferrero publicly promotes its commitment to ingredient quality and traceability. The company reports it can trace 97.5% of its cocoa beans and 93.9% of its hazelnuts back to the farm level. This trend is often paired with "shrinkflation"—reducing the size of a product while keeping the price the same—as another strategy for companies to handle rising ingredient and material costs. The backlash reflects a broader consumer movement demanding greater transparency and simpler, higher-quality ingredients. In a nod to this pressure, Hershey has separately committed to phasing out all artificial food dyes from its products by the end of 2027, following similar moves by Nestlé and JM Smucker.
