Boston, October 14, 2008 - In commemoration of World Food Day (October 16th) FoodPriceTruth.org has launched: Operation Missing Cookie!, an investigation into food company profiteering at a time when consumers need a break. Operation Missing Cookie! was initiated after FoodPriceTruth.org discovered Kraft's decision to shrink Chips Ahoy packages by 5%, from 16 oz. to 15.15 oz, while selling the cookies for the same price. Kraft pointed the finger at higher operating costs, but their profits are up 24% this year compared to last year.

Kraft is not the only offender. FoodPriceTruth.org compiled a chart of familiar food items showing up to 25 percent weight reductions in common food items like cheese, mayonnaise and ice cream.

"At a time when consumers are struggling to make ends meet, billion dollar food companies are gouging them in the grocery aisle," said Brooke Coleman, a spokesman FoodPriceTruth.org, an organization formed to tell the truth about food prices. "The real reason food companies are pinching cookies, shrinking packages and deceiving the public is profit. World Food Day is a reminder that people need to hold corporations accountable."

FoodPricetruth.org called recent statements from companies like Kraft and Nestle misleading and disingenuous. "These companies pretend that they are suffering at the hands of higher energy and grain prices like average Americans, but it's really about squeezing more money out of the consumer."

FoodPriceTruth.org has been watching the profits and activities of food companies in response to a public relations smear campaign against biofuels. Food companies are using biofuels as one of the scapegoats to raise their prices, claiming that biofuels are driving up commodity prices. Higher commodity and energy prices have increased the cost of doing business, but biofuels are not the cause of the problem. And few consumers realize that food company profits are way up.

"Not all food companies have decided to use instability in the economic marketplace to fill their pockets with more consumer dollars," added Coleman, "but it's interesting that the biggest offenders are the multi-national mega corporations like Kraft, Nestle, General Mills and Pepsico."

The charts below illustrates the correlation between shrinking products and rising corporate profits:

Note: Chart percentages calculated based on data from The Consumerist and ConsumerReports.org

Note: Ready-Pac Produce, Inc. is a privately owned company and does not report its earnings. Therefore this brand is not represented in the chart.