Attorney General Tong Seeks Legislation to Combat Shrinkflation, Price Gouging

Press Releases

02/10/2025

Attorney General Tong Seeks Legislation to Combat Shrinkflation, Price Gouging

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today urged lawmakers to back legislation proposed by the Office of the Attorney General to combat “shrinkflation” and price gouging contributing to unaffordable grocery bills for Connecticut families.

“Grocery prices are unaffordable and only getting more expensive. We need strong laws to go after the manufacturers and packagers who are taking advantage of this crisis to pad their profits,” said Attorney General Tong.

Click here for Attorney General Tong’s testimony on both proposals.

SHRINKFLATION

The term “shrinkflation” refers to packaging tricks deployed by manufacturers to try to hide the fact they are reducing packaging sizes to raise prices. For example, a manufacturer who reduces the volume of peanut butter in a jar by adding a dimple to the bottom of the jar. Or a bag of chips or box of crackers packed only half as full as it once was. In many cases, consumers only realize they have been a victim to shrinkflation after they get home and realize the groceries that always fed their family no longer go as far.

Legislation proposed by the Office of the Attorney General would require food manufacturers, packagers and wholesalers to provide a clear and conspicuous notice for at least twelve months when reducing the quantity, amount, weight or size of a product without making a corresponding reduction to the price.

The legislation would apply to essential groceries covered by federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program regulations, including baby formula, breads, cereals, dairy products, meats and fish, non-alcoholic beverages, seeds and snacks.

PRICE GOUGING

Attorney General Tong also sought support today for legislation to strengthen Connecticut’s woefully inadequate price gouging statute.

Price gouging is against the law in Connecticut—but only during declared civil preparedness and public health emergencies. And the Office of the Attorney General can only enforce that limited statute at the retail level, and not further up the supply chain where price gouging more typically occurs. During the pandemic, many state investigations of alleged price gouging behavior revealed that although the retail price of the item in question had increased, sometimes dramatically, the retail seller was not responsible for that increase. Rather, the cost of the item charged by the wholesaler to the retailer had increased, forcing the retailer to raise the price at the point of sale. In many cases, Connecticut retailers reduced their normal mark-ups in an effort to keep retail prices lower. Amending the price gouging statute to apply up and down the entire supply chain will better protect consumers by expanding and strengthening our ability to combat price gouging behavior.

The proposal would also add an additional trigger to the price gouging statute, giving the Attorney General, after consulting with the Department of Consumer Protection and Department of Economic and Community Development, the ability to issue a notice of an “abnormal economic disruption.”

Price gouging authority activated by the proposed abnormal economic disruption trigger would be limited to consumer necessities—defined as products purchased by the state in order to ensure public health or safety of its residents, including food, diapers, baby formula, pharmaceutical products and prescription drugs.

This trigger would allow the Attorney General to bring price gouging investigations, for example, when there is a baby formula shortage like we saw in 2022 after a large American manufacturer halted production due to contamination concerns or intravenous fluid shortage as we saw this fall in the wake of flooding in North Carolina.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

Facebook: CT Attorney General

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

Consumer Inquiries:

860-808-5318
attorney.general@ct.gov