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Doritos Cuts Number of Chips in Each Bag, Blames Bidenflation

March 11, 2022

Food company Frito-Lay has cut down the number of chips in each bag of Doritos as record inflation has raised production expenses, according to a Quartz report .

A bag of Doritos has five fewer chips than it used to, the company told Quartz. "Inflation is hitting everyone. … We took just a little bit out of the bag so we can give you the same price and you can keep enjoying your chips," a Frito-Lay representative told Quartz.

"The chip figure is based on our own calculations of how many Doritos weigh 0.5 oz," an editor explained. "We determined this by counting the number of chips in a bag to determine the average weight of a chip and then extrapolated from there."

Other ubiquitous consumer products have fallen victim to "shrinkflation," Quartz reported. Bounty has cut three sheets from each roll of paper towels, and a box of Wheat Thins now has 28 fewer crackers.

Under the Biden administration, inflation has skyrocketed. Inflation reached a 40-year high last month, even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused energy prices to surge. The cost of food accounts for much of the inflation, with grocery prices up 8.6 percent from last year.

Joan Cetera, a spokeswoman for the company, said the change actually came in February 2021, and that the Quartz story is falsely presenting it as a new adjustment. "The facts of the story are incorrect," Cetera told the Free Beacon. "In 2022, we have not, nor do we plan to cut the number of Doritos–or any of our chips–in any size bag."

Update, March 14 4:35 p.m.: This piece has been updated with comment from both Frito-Lay and Quartz.