Ken Bennett, an avid hiker and recreational hockey player, wanted a cereal packed with protein. So last month, he picked up Kellogg’s Vector. Bold lettering on the box declares that it has “high protein” — more specifically, that it “provides 13 g of protein” per serving.
“[It’s] actually pretty high for a breakfast cereal. That’s why I bought it,” said Bennett, who lives in Chilliwack, B.C.
He felt good about his choice — until he noticed the fine print on the box one morning during breakfast.
The fine print reveals that a serving of Vector flakes alone contains just 5.6 grams of protein. The rest of the advertised 13 grams comes from the recommended 200 millilitres of skim milk to be added to the flakes.
“I felt tricked. I felt duped,” said Bennett. “I took it for face value that these breakfast cereal flakes had 13 grams of protein.”
The fine print on the front of the Vector box and its nutrition information panel explains that the advertised 13 grams of protein comes from adding 200 milliliters of skim milk to the flakes. (Sophia Harris/CBC)
As Canadians grapple with rising grocery prices, they’re becoming more concerned about food marketing tactics they believe are deceptive — including “shrinkflation” (when companies reduce the weight of a food product, but not the price or packaging), “skimpflation” (when they use cheaper ingredients but keep the price the same), and bold claims that gloss over key details.
“It really offends consumers,”said Mary L’Abbé, a nutritional sciences professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.
“They really feel like they’re being … cheated out of their hard-earned dollars.”
Transparency needed on shrinkflation, consumer advocates say
Consumers and advocates are calling for more transparency around the practice of shrinking packaging rather than increasing prices, known as ‘shrinkflation.’ Other countries make companies display weight changes on product labels.
CBC News has heard from several Canadians who had gripes about cereal packaging, such as taller boxes containing less cereal, and bold statements on box labels that may not match up with what’s inside.
In Vector’s case, Health Canada spokesperson André Gagnon said Kellogg can add milk to the protein count, because the product isn’t a cereal. Instead, Vector is a “meal replacement” — a product that meets specific nutrition criteria that may require added milk.
Bennett said he thought Vector was a cereal because he bought it in the cereal aisle. He also didn’t notice the words “meal replacement” on the bottom corner of the box.
“I don’t know what it means by a meal replacement,” he said. “They shouldn’t be able to do that.”
L’Abbé agrees. She says although Vector’s label complies with regulations, it’s still misleading to many shoppers who believe the product is a cereal.
“It’s not sold grouped in the supermarket with all these other nutritional meal replacements,” she said. “It’s in with the breakfast cereals.”
U.S.-based WK Kellogg Co. said Vector’s label is not only compliant, but voluntarily discloses on the box the protein count without added milk.
No blueberries in ‘blueberry’ cereal
Don Bajom of Winnipeg recently bought a box of Kellogg’s Mini-Wheats Blueberry because he believed it contained blueberries. After all, the berry is in the cereal’s name and in pictures on the box.
But he thought the cereal didn’t taste quite right, so he checked the ingredients. That’s when he discovered that it contains no blueberries — dried or in any other form.
Kellogg’s Mini-Wheats Blueberry shows pictures of blueberries on the box, but the cereal contains none of the fruit. The company says this is allowed because it states “natural and artificial flavour” on the bottom right corner of the box. (Sophia Harris/CBC)
“I feel like I was lied to,” he told CBC News in a written statement. “I feel like this company does not care about its customers.”
According to Canadian regulations, if a cereal shows a real food on the box that is simulated in the product with flavouring, it must be made clear on the packaging.
Kellogg Co. said Mini-Wheats Blueberry is compliant, because the front of the box states “natural and artificial flavour,” and the nutrition label lists all the ingredients.
But L’Abbé still takes issue with the cereal’s packaging, saying she believes the “natural and artificial flavour” statement — near the bottom corner of the box — doesn’t make clear that the cereal contains no blueberries.
“That product doesn’t say ‘blueberry-flavoured Mini-Wheats,’ it just says, ‘blueberry Mini-Wheats,'” she said. “This one I think is absolutely, terribly misleading to the consumer.”
How skimpflation might be affecting your groceries
Skimpflation is when companies swap out ingredients for cheaper ones, without lowering the price or alerting customers. One consumer advocate calls it a ‘sneaky way to give you less for your money’ that most people don’t notice.
L’Abbé says the federal government needs to do more to help shoppers read food labels with a critical eye.
“I don’t think they’ve thought enough about how important these labels are to consumers,” she said.
Boston-based consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky, who tracks shrinkflation on his website, Consumer World, said the best safeguard for shoppers is to educate themselves.
“We have to become aware of the different tricks and ploys that manufacturers use,” he said. “We can outsmart them.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
