You Might Be Getting Overcharged For Cheese At Your Grocery Store Deli — What To Know
Finding out your grocery store may be overcharging you is not just frustrating; it could also hurt your wallet. According to the USDA, food prices in May 2026 were over 3% higher than the year before. Research from the Urban Institute showed that, in 2025, one in four Americans reported having trouble affording food. Kroger, Publix, Walmart, and other retailers have all faced recent accusations of selling underweight items to customers, leading to million-dollar settlements in some cases.
According to regulations from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, small differences between individual packages are allowed due to normal measuring and packaging processes. However, the average amount of the product across all packages must match what is stated on the label. Grocery stores can't intentionally round up a weight or regularly sell underweight packages — a deli red flag to watch out for next time you're at the store. However, several customers are finding that they have routinely been overcharged at the deli.
Despite Kroger having some of the best deli cheese, according to many shoppers, the retailer is one of the most recent chains accused of mislabeling its products. YouTuber Jimmy Wrigg posted a series of videos from his local Kroger store in which he weighed prepackaged deli cheeses labeled as three-quarters of a pound, or 12 ounces. In some cases, he discovered discrepancies of more than 5 ounces. An employee told him that anything around 0.7 pounds was considered three-quarters of a pound. By that reasoning, a 0.68-pound package he discovered was treated as close enough to 0.75.
Customers say they're getting fleeced on cheese
The Cincinnati Enquirer conducted its own test, weighing items at eight Kroger stores. Its findings did not fully match Wrigg's. The editor got shorted at one store where a bag of salami marked 12 ounces weighed 7.8 ounces on the scale. However, six other stores overfilled bags and gave more than 12 ounces of both deli meat and cheese. On the Kroger subreddit, Kroger employees said that understaffed deli departments may contribute to labeling mistakes at some stores. In a thread that predates this cheese controversy, another Redditor said, "My wife weighs the produce and meat we get from Kroger and frequently gets refunds for underweight items." Whether intentional or not, customers don't typically notice weights that are off by 15% or less, according to Emory University Goizueta Business School Associate Professor Dr. Saloni Firasta-Vastani (via WSB-TV Atlanta). "So both from an ethical standpoint as well as from a legal standpoint, they're misrepresenting what they're selling," she said.
Walmart has also faced allegations of overcharging for deli meat, while Publix stores in Florida have been accused of similar. In 2024, Albertsons agreed to pay a $3.9 million settlement to resolve allegations that it overcharged customers. Also in 2024, Roundy's reached a settlement with the state of Wisconsin over allegations that it sold underweight items.
Given how pervasive the issue appears to be, you may want to double-check packaged deli items before buying. If you're unsure, ask a deli employee to weigh the package for you. If the weight doesn't match the label, ask the employee to make up the difference or find one that is properly labeled. You can also avoid this issue by ordering your cheese and deli meat sliced to order so you can verify the weight as it's packaged.