Downsizing ice cream

Facing rising costs for raw ingredients like cream, cocoa, and vanilla, the nation's premium ice cream manufacturers are increasing their prices, but doing it in such a way that most consumers won't notice.

The companies are quietly shrinking the size of their popular 64-ounce half-gallon containers by 8 ounces, or about two servings, but keeping the price steady or even raising it slightly. The net result is a per-ounce price increase of about 14 percent on the typical nonsale price of $4.99.

Edy's shifted to the smaller 56-ounce container more than a year ago, but now Friendly's, Turkey Hill, and to some extent Good Humor-Breyers are all doing their own stealth price increases. Chelsea-based H.P. Hood says it is watching to see how consumers react and may downsize its ice cream as well.

The companies say they have little choice. They say they can't afford to let Edy's sell at a lower price point -- even if the price is roughly the same on a per-ounce basis -- because consumers pay far more attention to prices than they do to weights.

Some of the ice cream manufacturers also say consumers on diets are actually demanding less ice cream for their money. ''Consumers are switching their mindset," said Marlene Weaver, a spokeswoman for Turkey Hill Dairy of Lancaster, Pa. ''They're looking for smaller sizes."

The new smaller ice cream packages look remarkably like the old ones. The new Friendly's 1.75-quart brick, for example, is still the same height and width as the old half-gallon, or 2-quart package, so it looks the same in the supermarket freezer case. Only by holding the old and new packages side by side can you tell that one is narrower than the other.

Maryellen Hansen of Hyde Park was shopping for ice cream at her local Stop & Shop when she spotted the size change. She bristled at the back-door price increase.

''I know prices go up, but don't do it sneaky like that," she said.

John Gifford, who with his brother owns Gifford's Dairy Inc. of Skowhegan, Maine, says what his bigger national competitors are doing is deceptive. He said Gifford's Famous Ice Cream won't be downsizing to the 56-ounce containers, which he said the packaging industry has dubbed ''cheater cups" because they're designed to fool consumers.

''We just feel we can't go that route and cheat the consumer," Gifford said.

Gifford said he knows the company is taking a big risk by increasing the wholesale price of its half-gallon container by 30 to 40 cents, since many consumers may not take the time to figure out prices on a per-ounce basis. He said he and his brother are thinking about changing their label to point out that they are still selling a ''true half gallon."

Officials at Shaw's and Stop & Shop, both of which sell premium ice creams under their own name, said they don't intend to change their product sizes.

Ice cream manufacturers aren't the first to downsize their product but not their price. Companies that make everything from diapers to potato chips have discovered that most consumers don't notice the disguised price increases.

Edgar Dworsky, editor of Consumerworld.org, said it's one thing for companies to tinker with odd-sized products, but he thinks it's unfair to downsize what has become a standard-size package. ''When a half-gallon becomes 56 ounces, what's next?" he asked. ''A carton of eggs with only 11 eggs? Or does a pound all of a sudden become 14 ounces?"

Ice cream companies are facing intense cost pressures. Scarce milk supplies are starting to drive up the price of milk, and butterfat has almost doubled in price in the last year, rising to $2.29 a pound. Manufacturers say the cost of cocoa has tripled over the last two years because of political unrest in West Africa, where most supplies come from.

Vanilla prices also have soared, largely because of crop-destroying cyclones that hit the world's biggest producer, Madagascar, earlier this year and in 2000. Weaver at Turkey Hill said vanilla that cost $56 a gallon about four years ago costs nearly $800 today.

Tim Hopkins, vice president and general manager of the retail division at Friendly's in Wilbraham, said the company was faced with a choice: either raise its price or use cheaper ingredients. Hopkins said the company decided to maintain quality and join Edy's in raising the price by cutting the size of the container.

Asked if the new package was designed to make consumers think there had been no change, he said: ''It's not intentionally misleading."

Weaver at Turkey Hill, which is just beginning to ship its new containers, said the company isn't trying to hide anything. ''You will notice the difference in the containers. It's certainly not a secret," she said, noting that on the firm's Philadelphia-style ice cream containers, customers concerned about the downsizing are urged to give the company a call.

At Good Humor-Breyers, the Green Bay, Wis., company has decided to keep packing its most popular and basic flavors -- vanilla, French vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry -- in half-gallon containers, while its more exotic flavors like butter pecan and vanilla fudge brownie are going to 56 ounces.

''We're trying to give our consumers a bit of a break here," said Lisa Piasecki, a spokeswoman for Good Humor-Breyers. ''At this point, we're taking a middle-of-the-road approach."

Uncrustables update

A year ago I told you about Uncrustables -- frozen, prepackaged peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on spongy, crustless white bread. Parents could slip one of the round, two-ounce sandwiches into junior's lunch bag in the morning and by noon it would be thawed and ready to eat.

It sounded disgusting, but Uncrustables have been a big hit with school lunch programs and harried parents. A spokeswoman for J.M. Smucker Co. said the firm couldn't keep up with demand earlier this year, and hopes to open a new plant in Kentucky next month devoted exclusively to Uncrustable production.

Sales are currently running about $50 million a year and growing. The latest addition to the Uncrustables line is a pretoasted grilled cheese sandwich with the crusts removed. Pop it in the microwave and it's ready to eat in 20 seconds.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.