Customers Wish Hillshire Farm Would Make This Significant Change To Its Deli Meat

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No matter how you slice it (pun totally intended), deli meat preferences can be a very individual thing. First, there's turkey, ham, salami, bologna, and more. Next, some people love when they get it freshly sliced at the deli counter. Others count on the convenience and consistency of prepackaged meat. And while Hillshire Farm has been a go-to for many who opt for pre-sliced, packaged deli meat, customers have begun voicing one big complaint: they want more bang for their buck (aka more meat for their money).

We recommended you skip Hillshire Farm on our list of three deli meat brands to buy and four to avoid, and the size of its slices is the main issue. "What really annoys us about this brand is the fact that so many of its products are sliced ultra thin," our reviewer wrote. "Don't get us wrong: sometimes, that extra thin slice is just what you need to make a perfectly layered sandwich. But there are other times when we're looking for a more substantial slice, and Hillshire Farm absolutely misses the mark."

The quality of the meat isn't the issue. In fact, it's often quite delicious! We even wrote about how it's impossible to eat just one slice of the best Hillshire Farm deli meat. But customers are noticing that what's inside the package is not just super thin but also continues to shrink in weight.

A review of Hillshire Farm's Ultra-Thin Sliced Roast Beef from a Walmart customer says, "I like to make at-home Arby's Beef and Cheddar. There is just so little meat in a container that it's disappointing and cheaper to just go to Arby's and get the real thing. This tastes great, but you'd need one entire package for a single sandwich." A Reddit user claims that since 2013, Hillshire Farm packages have shrunk from 9 ounces to 7 ounces ... but still cost the same, and they posted screenshots to back it up.

Yet another customer cried "Shrinkflation!" in a Facebook comment, in reference to Hillshire Farm's smoked sausage. "This package used to be 16 ounces," they wrote. "That was one pound. Now it's 25% smaller." Hillshire Farm was acquired by Tyson Foods in 2014, which may have something to do with the subsequent shrinkflation claims, as customers often seem to think products change after their parent company changes. But this may just be the reality in which we live now. There are tons of popular groceries that have been hit by shrinkflation, and Hillshire Farm products, unfortunately, seem to be among them.