3 ms·

Isn't doing this illegal? Since it makes people think they're buying the same product they always have but it has actually changed. At least in Brazil, every t

• JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  It was disclosed on the packaging.
  • a3n 11y ago
    not the fact of the change itself
  • gberger 11y ago
    Then how come they only "announced" it now? Unless the disclosure was very discreet, I'd count it as an announcement.
    • gohrt 11y ago
      This is thoroughly explained in the article.
• pkaye 11y ago
  It is disclosed in the packaging. They just didn't do a big promotion prior to the change.
• mikeash 11y ago
  When you say "disclose that on the packaging," do you mean something more than just changing the list of ingredients printed on the package? Here, the packaging must describe the contents and that description must be accurate, so changes must be reflected there. But nothing requires them to say "hey, we changed this" beyond changing the nutritional information, which most people don't pay attention to.
  • Latty 11y ago
    And it's worth noting this is one of those places where the technicalities kill it. How major a change is needed to trigger a 'formula changed' warning? The reality is lots of products these days change on a batch-by-batch basis to reduce costs or use what is available. Legislation forcing companies to disclose that something has changed in a more noticable (less specific) way, would no doubt just result in those warnings always being there, making them just as useless (I mean, maybe you could say 'new formula as of <date>', but again, people are probably just going to ignore it with that much detail).
    • aninhumer 11y ago
      I feel like a decent compromise would be requiring a date of last change along with the ingredients list on the back. That way people with particular concerns can just check that to know whether anything has changed without having to carefully check the whole list every time.
    • Dylan16807 11y ago
      Do all those batches have customized nutritional information and ingredient lists? If those are the same, then the variations on the formula don't matter. I think having the year+month of the last recipe change would work perfectly fine. If you care what the ingredients are, it's very easy to notice. Much better than 'new'. The goal is not to force anyone to care. The goal is to have information be convenient. Scouring the entirety of the nutritional info is not convenient. And adding the date is a minimal burden to the company.
      • Latty 11y ago
        Yes, they do - I know of at least one case where they make large changes to the sugar content in a product based on costs at the time.
  • elros 11y ago
    Yes, in Brazil AFAIK the law involve more than, let's say, listing it somewhere in the back in small print. You actually need to visually shout it out, think bold letters in white on a red background, occupying a sixth of the height of a can, for a canned good, for example. If a reasonable person who's not paying attention doesn't notice it, it's not enough.