Skimpflation

Skimpflation

Princes has substituted tinned mackerel with jack mackerel, a cheaper alternative to fresh mackerel, due to dwindling stocks of Atlantic mackerel.

The switch has been spurred by Chilean jack mackerel being more sustainable and having a third of the cost.

Until December 2025, under UK law, Carangidae species could only be marketed as 'jack', 'scad', 'trevally' or 'horse mackerel'.

However, shortly after Princes launched its new product as 'jack mackerel', the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs changed its rules to permit the labelling.

Industry figures reposted by seafood market intelligence platform Undercurrent suggest wholesale Chilean jack mackerel costs roughly one-third as much as Atlantic mackerel.

The switch follows the so-called 'mackerel war', a long-running dispute between the UK, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, the Faroe Islands, the EU and Russia over shared mackerel catch quotas.

The countries have repeatedly failed to agree a unified system for sharing stock and setting catch limits in line with scientific advice.

Mackerel catches in the north-east Atlantic have exceeded the levels advised by scientists by an average of 39% over the past 15 years, according to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

Stocks have plummeted by roughly three-quarters over the past decade, according to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices).

The intergovernmental body has advised slashing the quantity of north-east Atlantic mackerel caught in 2026 by roughly 70% to allow the stock a chance to recover.

Last year, the Marine Conservation Society said the Atlantic mackerel population was at 'breaking point'.

Skimpflation - quietly changing ingredients to cut costs - has become increasingly common, but it can feel particularly sneaky as shoppers may not realise a product has changed until they get it home and eat it.

Despite its name, jack mackerel is not a type of mackerel. Jack mackerel belongs to the Carangidae fish family, while traditional mackerel belongs to the Scombridae family.

However, shortly after Princes launched its new product as 'jack mackerel', the Department for Environment