[chongli]

One of the worst offenders in this regard is packages of frozen meat products such as chicken wings, chicken fingers, nuggets, etc. They used to just contain the breaded meat with the net weight printed on the box (usually 2 lb).

Now they've started including frozen sauce packets as well. I've weighed some of these and found, for example, a 2 lb box of chicken wings that comes with more than half a pound of buffalo sauce. The net weight stays the same (2 lb) but if you weigh the chicken you're getting less than 1.5 lb of meat! The rest is all sauce!

[djmips]

Sort of related is chocolate. I feel like 'pure' chocolate is a loss leader and all of the other types with mixed in caramel bits etc are a way of selling you a bunch of cheaper stuff for the same weight and price! Better to just buy the least adulterated chocolate for the best deal.

[chongli]

Or how about bread? I’ve seen some breads manage to increase the water content dramatically. You throw a slice in the toaster and it comes out weighting nothing at all, like a cracker!

[freeqaz]

That's amazing that it isn't illegal to do that. I wonder if the laws will force companies to list out how much weight each component is like that.

But then again if there is no health impact (like with Trans fats) then is there any incentive for the regulators to change this?

Has the FDA ever done any work to protect consumers from sketchy marketing/labeling of products?

(I asked ChatGPT and it gave me a few bits. Apparently the term "Healthy" is regulated. And serving sizes are another that seem to be regulated. Maybe there is an angle within there that would make sense.)

[webninja]

Another is multi-gallon containers of protein powders online. Many contain 2/5th air at the top and are only 3/5ths full.

[chongli]

They don’t sell those by weight?

[webninja]

They do and it’s half air.