Cadbury has reduced the size of its Dairy Milk sharing bars by 10%. However, there will be no price reduction for customers. As a result of rising costs of the production of its chocolate, parent firm Mondelez have to reduce the size of the bars from 200g to 180g. Despite the size reduction, they are still commonly sold for £2. The move, according to Mondelez, is the first for that size of Dairy Milk bar in a decade.
The corporation was facing accusations of “shrinkflation” in 2020. It involves shrinking the size of a product while maintaining the same price to increase profits. At the time, Cadbury chocolate bars sold in multipacks, including popular treats like Crunchies, Twirls, and Wispas, were reduced in size to reduce their calorie count, Mondelez said.
Rising inflation
The latest step comes as food prices rise, putting even more strain on UK consumers amid the cost-of-living crisis. Inflation set a new 30-year high of 6.2 percent for the year ending in February last week.
A Mondelez spokesperson said: “We’re facing the same challenges that so many other food companies have already reported when it comes to significantly increased production costs whether it’s ingredients, energy, or packaging and rising inflation. This means that our products are much more expensive to make.”
“We understand that consumers are faced with rising costs too, which is why we look to absorb costs wherever we can but, in this difficult environment. We’ve had to decide to slightly reduce the weight of our medium Cadbury Dairy Milk bars for the first time since 2012 so that we can keep them competitive and ensure the great taste and quality our fans enjoy.”
In a completely unrelated incident, the Food Standards Agency has given out warnings to “Wonka” chocolate bars. The agency has notified about the sales of fake chocolates online that could be dangerous to consume. Any Wonka-branded chocolate without the “Ferrero” or “Ferrara Candy Company” trademarks on the label, it argued, was most likely fraudulent. Some containing allergens weren’t specified on the label. The warning comes following an uptick in complaints of counterfeit chocolate bars on the market in the last year.