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Cocoa Powder Shrinkflation

Last year, five pounds of cocoa powder cost $40:

Healthworks Cacao Powder - 2025
Healthworks Cacao Powder – 2025

This year, five pounds of cocoa powder costs $60:

Healthworks Cacao Powder - 2026
Healthworks Cacao Powder – 2026

You can reconcile the 1/7.5 reduction in “Serving size” with the 4.7 increase in “Servings per container” by noting the latter matches the 14/3 per-serving weight ratio, not the volume ratio everybody uses. Both bags contain 5 lb of cocoa and have about the same volume; if anything, the newer bag is slightly bulkier.

However, slashing the amount of cocoa in their recipe by a factor of 3 guarantees a truly bland result. Maybe it’s just a missing “b”, a typo that could happen to anyone?

Trust, but verify.

Comments

2 responses to “Cocoa Powder Shrinkflation”

  1. Harolde Avatar
    Harolde

    There’s at least four more typos in the new instructions. But I only read them once…

    usually, serving size shrinkage is so the label can state “0” for something that is actually 0< x < 0.5″ since you can round down to “zero fat per serving”. they seem to have missed this with the fat, but other values are weirdly rounded as well. “Now with more fiber and less salt!” lol…

    let me guess, this comes with the amazon bar code pre-printed on the bag?

    Reply
    1. Ed Avatar
      Ed

      Many eyes make typos obvious! :grin:

      The new bag is pre-printed, but the old bag was plain white with two large labels; I’ve bought cocoa from them in those bags for several years. Both have high production values and, apart from typos, nothing to indicate counterfeiting. Perhaps the fakers have upped their game in the last year?

      Reply

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