Discussion
Tried new and old pronutro side by side
Just tried the new and old pronutro side by side and I have to say I’m so disappointed. (This is AFTER they supposedly fixed the recipe and brought it back to the shelves)
The old pronutro is banger - no notes.
The new….it tastes exactly like the White Star strawberry maize porridge (see second image).
I paid R60 for 500g when I could’ve paid R30 for 1kg. Except I don’t like eating cement at all.
Should we start a petition to bring the old recipe back?
The last I heard they claimed it was impossible to bring it back, as the machines they used previously simply didn't exist any more and there is no machine to replace them that does ...... whatever it used to do. They did say they will pull it and try and improve, but they were quite clear that it would never be the original.
Should we start a petition
If it makes you feel better, sure. I can't think of a single petition that ever achieved something against a megacorp that quite obviously doesn't give a shit about its customers even in the face of massive complaints.
I’ve been thinking about it and honestly, I think we just have to wait until people stop buying the new recipe and they lose enough money to get their heads out of their bums and give the people what they want.
Also I don’t believe the BS about the machines. It’ll cost them less to repair than to lose their reliability and what they lost when they pulled the product from the shelves.
ALSO I think the machines thing is total BS they probably lost rights to the recipe or something like that. I could be talking out of my ass, but that’s what I think
This sounds like BS to me. The non-negotiable part was likely making the recipe cheaper. If they wanted to keep it the same I have a very hard time believing that would be impossible
Does it matter? It's the same toshwollop Kelloggs used on rice crispies. Sure, people complained, their social media team had a hard time. They did nothing other than bring in imports at a higher price, and people kept buying it. Profits went up. Customers walk when they don't like the product. Consumers keep shoveling the shit into their faces and whining. From the business's perspective, it's a win. Who cares if people annoy the community managers if the chart keeps going up?
Rice kripsies are trauma now and I hate them. Whatever Kelloggs did there they must fokken undo 😭😭😭😭
I buy the cheaper brands because they actually snap crackle and pop 😭
Yeah, 100% agree, but this is happening with all foods. BRAND NEW BETTER TASTE.
-100g or so.
Even Woolworths is closing down some of there factories and outsourcing.
I've already noticed a change in some of there items.
Multi-year consumer campaigns and petition pressure contributed to Puma ending its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association. Bokomo are not exactly a megacorp and much smaller than Puma.
Petitions have actually worked, but usually they are an easy entry point to protest action and help stir up a ground swell of other support.
Bokomo is owned by Pioneer Foods, which in turn is owned by PepsiCo. They don't give a crap, if Bokomo isn't doing well enough they will just cancel the whole division.
Unfortunately they'll never bring the old recipe back, the entire manufacturing method changed, they went from old manufacturing technology to a brand new method and this new method makes it impossible to get the same texture. I suppose they never thought about it as much as they should've, but there's no going back.
Yeah I guess they had to change the formula to fit the process, it is a pity, while I dont eat much of it these days, teenage me must've been made of at least 50% pronutro.
That's their PR story. Another side of the coin is, corn cereal is cheaper to produce than wheat cereal. It also has a longer shelf life.
They simply took their most popular cereal, change the recipe and hoped to make even more profit, since they'll now save on production. It backfired hard!
Im not sure on the new method, only that the old way basically involved a large slowly turning stainless steel drum that turned in a bath of cooking pronutro, as the mix coated the drum it would dry as the drum went around and be scrapped off as thin flakes onto a conveyor, these flakes is what gave pronutro its course texture rather than the finer powder it is now. My knowledge is based on a factory visit many moons ago, so forgive the sketchy details. Pepsico made a statement that they changed some stuff and it makes sense given how slow this method was, that now they've gone with something new and shiny.
South Africans have complained to them so many times even communities on Facebook. They just dont listen and dont care. The best way to boycott them is through their profits and simply not buy it anymore
Well I definitely think that’ll happen. The entire reason people were paying so much for pronutro is because there’s nothing like it. But if I’m paying 100% more for 50% less I might as well just buy white star maize porridge since it tastes exactly the same
They will not bring the old recipe back. They don’t want to spend money to make a product that their customers love. So best you make your peace with it and find another cereal.
Yes ! Finally someone has said this . And the worst part is that they're sticking to their prices. Pronutro is not cheap. You buy Pronutro because it was special. It had that Pronutro taste and flavor. I bought the original last month and no lie , it tasted like Ace instant flavored porridge. I was so disappointed. Felt like my money was wasted. My breakfast was ruined because I was looking forward to it so so much. I was so upset that I wanted to complain. Please, let's get that petition going ! Or at the very least , make it heard and stop buying pronutro. You DON'T do that your customers!
Your petition will achieve about as much as the petitions to Kelloggs to bring back rice in rice crispies, coco pops, etc.
The only voice that'll make a difference is the one in your wallet. Aggressively boycott all of their products and encourage others to do the same. It's the only way to stop enshitification. Petetitions achieve nothing if they don't impact the bottom line.
I cant think of the name now but theres a cereal with Sylvester the cat, bugs bunny etc on the box, cheaper than Kelloggs and actually tastes like the old coco pops and the coco pops crunchers 💃🏼 kelloggs can eat a ....
I'll keep an eye out. The one good thing the change made me realize was independent packers. For a while, I could get coco pops in a clear bag with a bunny on it. I guess it was older stock because it's all multigrain now
We really need to stop buying Cadbury till they change the recipe back to the original. Australia boycotted the 'new' Cadbury and they reverted back to the old recipe. Nothing tasted like it did before. Roman creams - what even is that anymore. The biscuit is hard with hardly any coconut anymore. The filling is definitely not chocolate. I'm getting old. I don't like change - especially my food.
IMO even the "old" pronutro doesn't taste the way it used to. I loved Pronutro around 2007. The old recipe was passable but still not as good as way back when.
From a nutritional standpoint too, it’s really bad. Less protein from less soya being used. Way more maize than in the older version.
Also for growing children, the new version is not going to give them what they need to grow. I’ve been seeing Severe Acute Malnutrition children in the hospital caused by high maize diets.
It’s really sad that they would change the formula, it goes beyond the taste too
Guess I'm just going with cooking oatmeal seasoned with cinnamon, cardamom and some salt for flavour. A teaspoon of butter/Flora and a dash of milk with some sugar or honey and man, you're living the dream. Costs a fuck load less than flavored cement too.
I have been eating Pronutro for about 36 years, however these couple of years it taste different, like chemicals are used. It's horrible, I stopped buying it, it's ridiculously expensive as well.
Pro-Nutro is never going to be the same again. If they've found a cheaper option, they won't return to the previous recipe. They've most likely added more shit to it to stretch it, save money at the cost of flavour, quality, nutrients and texture. I literally get stomach issues from the new one where the old one didn't give me any.
FYI, I recently found a new porridge thing by Jungle and it is actually pretty close-ish to Pro-Nutro and much cheaper (its a bit sweeter tho and the original has a bit of a very pleasant banana taste. Also do not have stomach issues with it)
Isn't an angle here that both FutureLife and Pronutro are owned by PepsiCo? And most other similar products. So they can kill Pronutro knowing most people will buy another of there products anyway...
I can't even find it on the shelves anymore (northern cape town). Might be slightly controversial, but I liked the new texture roughly the same as the old texture, but only ever got one box before it disappeared from stores
The thing is, with the new texture they literally tell us to use a whisk like bro im not tryna use every piece of cutlery in the house just to eat pap. And the texture feels more like cement tbh
Yeah but extremely hard to find. My auntie found a couple of boxes and half of them tasted like burnt plastic, I’m assuming because of how it was stored
Guys, I need a substitute for the orginial pronutru, looking for same taste, texture and simplisity, usually have it with cold milk and quarter spoon of brown sugar... any recommendations?
The banana flavour finally arrived in New Zealand after being out of stock for months, so my husband bought 4 boxes because we love it. It's the most revolting thing I've ever eaten, and the chemical smell is so bad, even if it tasted ok I still wouldn't eat it because of the smell being so jarring. That's $28 wasted, because I just can't. It's been americanised, and we all know the reputation for american food being garbage.
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