Deceptive packages: What deceptive packages can do for your health

Germans eat too sweet, too fatty, too much. A sugar tax could help, as could a popular trick of the confectionery industry: shrinkflation.

April 28, 2026, 4:20 p.m

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Article summary

Shrinkflation in the food industry: prices rise, content shrinks. Milka chocolate in court over weight loss. Doctors are calling for a sugar tax, politicians are showing interest. Shrinkflation is considered part of the solution. Fresh food prices remain stable, industrial products become more expensive due to trickery.

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Shrinkflation also has its good side. This is the ploy of many food manufacturers to increase the prices of their products by simply reducing the size of the package or its contents. This has been pretty popular for years. There is currently a lawsuit before the Bremen regional court about Milka chocolate: Is it a consumer deception if there are only 90 grams instead of 100 grams in the pack?

This sounds like a classic case of rip-off. But the outrage overlooks an uncomfortable connection: Germans eat the wrong things anyway. Too fatty, too salty, too sweet. And too much. Just have 5,000 doctorsincluding the President of the German Medical Association, called for the introduction of a sugar tax. Minister of Health Nina Warken (CDU) is in favor, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) is probably open to the idea, and even Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) does not think it is completely absurd. Shrinkflation does not necessarily have to be viewed as a problem, but can be part of the solution.