Mondelez, the owner of Cadbury brand, has said that by the end of 2021, all Cadbury chocolate bars that are sold in multipacks will be reduced in size to bring down the calorie count in them.
No more than 200 calories each for a pack of four is aimed to be included in some of the popular treats including Crunchie, Twirl and Wispa bars.
But the price of the bars will remain the same. No changes will be made in bars that are sold individually.
This announcement was however resented by chocolate fans on Twitter, and named this latest example as "shrinkflation". This is the common term that is us dot explain the phenomenon of food manufacturers reducing the weight of their products but not reducing the price of the products.
"We must play our part in tackling obesity and are committed to doing so without compromising on consumer choice," said Louise Stigant, UK managing director at Mondelez International.
The company believed in "offering consumers different portion sizes for different occasions", said a spokesperson for Mondelez when asked why "single-serve" bars were unaffected by the change. While confirming that the list price for multipacks would not change, the spokesperson said that the pricing was up to retailers.
Skeptical consumers questioning the move have tweeted that the name of the Double Decker bar should be changed to Minibus by Cadbury.
"Cadbury trying to say that the change is for health reasons when it seems painfully obvious it's for profit margins," said another disgruntled customer.
There were previous occasions too when Mondelez has faced consumer criticism after reducing the size of its chocolate bars. For example, there as criticism of the company in 2016 when it had shrunk the weight of its Toblerone bar from 200g to 150g by spacing out its distinctive triangular chunks. The company however went back to the original weights after two years.
"This is a sign of the times." said Mark Jones, food and drink supply chain expert at law firm Gordons.
"You may remember in July 2017, the ONS (Office for National Statistics) confirmed that 2,529 products shrank in size between January 2012 and June 2017, but their price remained the same. The vast majority of the affected products were food and drink. Now we are on the brink of another recession, shrinkflation will probably increase again. Only this time, when the producers are caught, they are likely to point to the obesity epidemic as their motivation rather than their margins."
(Source:www.bbc.com)
No more than 200 calories each for a pack of four is aimed to be included in some of the popular treats including Crunchie, Twirl and Wispa bars.
But the price of the bars will remain the same. No changes will be made in bars that are sold individually.
This announcement was however resented by chocolate fans on Twitter, and named this latest example as "shrinkflation". This is the common term that is us dot explain the phenomenon of food manufacturers reducing the weight of their products but not reducing the price of the products.
"We must play our part in tackling obesity and are committed to doing so without compromising on consumer choice," said Louise Stigant, UK managing director at Mondelez International.
The company believed in "offering consumers different portion sizes for different occasions", said a spokesperson for Mondelez when asked why "single-serve" bars were unaffected by the change. While confirming that the list price for multipacks would not change, the spokesperson said that the pricing was up to retailers.
Skeptical consumers questioning the move have tweeted that the name of the Double Decker bar should be changed to Minibus by Cadbury.
"Cadbury trying to say that the change is for health reasons when it seems painfully obvious it's for profit margins," said another disgruntled customer.
There were previous occasions too when Mondelez has faced consumer criticism after reducing the size of its chocolate bars. For example, there as criticism of the company in 2016 when it had shrunk the weight of its Toblerone bar from 200g to 150g by spacing out its distinctive triangular chunks. The company however went back to the original weights after two years.
"This is a sign of the times." said Mark Jones, food and drink supply chain expert at law firm Gordons.
"You may remember in July 2017, the ONS (Office for National Statistics) confirmed that 2,529 products shrank in size between January 2012 and June 2017, but their price remained the same. The vast majority of the affected products were food and drink. Now we are on the brink of another recession, shrinkflation will probably increase again. Only this time, when the producers are caught, they are likely to point to the obesity epidemic as their motivation rather than their margins."
(Source:www.bbc.com)