Cheapflation: what is it and how do you avoid it in your shopping trolley?

At first glance, everything looks the same. The appearance is the same as always, but we are paying the same price for a lower-quality product: clothes get damaged earlier, your usual shower gel generates less foam than it used to or the useful life of a household appliance is much shorter than expected. This is known as 'cheapflation', a silent upward economic trend which, according to Consumer magazine, is already affecting all sectors from food to personal hygiene to new technologies. The magazine claims that this phenomenon is widespread and more common than we think, but what exactly does it consist of and how do we spot it?

The magazine explains that cheapflation is nothing more than a business practice in which the price of a product is kept the same, but the quality is reduced. How is this done? By reformulating ingredients, using cheaper materials or reducing the nutritional value of food products. "The inflationary pressure of recent years has not only hit consumers' pockets. It has also had a major impact on the margins of companies, which have been forced to deal with ever higher production costs," explains Consumer. It has nothing to do with reduflation, which consists of reducing the size of packaging or the quantity of product without changing the price.

The magazine argues that, beyond its economic impact, "cheapflation can pose a risk to our health by reducing the nutritional value of some foods by replacing quality ingredients with cheaper ones, such as dairy fat with vegetable fat or olive oil with refined oils." In fact, such reformulations "can increase the amount of saturated fats and increase sugars, additives and starches, altering the nutritional profile," the magazine highlights.

Consumer highlights various examples of cheapflation in the food industry: "Perhaps the most widespread is in industrial ice cream, according to the experts consulted. Some of these desserts are no longer dairy-based but frozen, made from vegetable fats instead of milk fat." Another example can be seen in some "cheeses", where, in order to make them cheaper, milk fat is replaced by vegetable oils, such as sunflower or soya. Sometimes this change modifies the microstructure and texture of the product, making it more compact or elastic, which can alter the taste and sensory quality. To compensate for this, experts explain, some manufacturers add whey protein concentrate to counteract the loss of fat and maintain certain nutritional properties.

There is no legislation in Spain that explicitly prohibits or regulates cheapflation, the magazine points out. "Spanish consumer protection legislation requires that labelling must be truthful and not misleading, but does not directly prevent this practice as long as the composition of the product is correctly reported," said José María Ferrer, head of the food law department at the Instituto Tecnológico de la Alimentación Ainia (Ainia Food Technology Institute).

Although the regulations described by Ferrer refer mainly to the food sector, the same legal logic can be applied to others. However, the risk of confusion persists when changes are not clearly highlighted or are presented under ambiguous labels, such as "new formula", say the experts consulted by Consumer magazine. So what can be done to detect cheapflation?

-Ingredients list. Consumer points out that reading the ingredient list carefully is crucial to know the components of a product. An increase in stabilisers or starches in foods that previously only contained milk and ferments can indicate a reduction in quality in the final product.

Did you notice that you now need more detergent to run the same washing machines? A reduction in efficiency or durability is a clear sign that something has changed in the product we bought.

-Packaging. "Comparing old and new packaging is a good way to check. Check for differences in ingredients, net weight or nutritional values. If there are changes, they will be reflected in the labelling," the magazine said.