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Chocolate, coffee, toothpaste And even heartburn medications are among the products hardest hit.contraction inflation‘, a new study has revealed.
Which consumer group? Major brands were found to be cutting back on the size as well as quality of popular products, with some ingredients being downgraded to make way for cheaper alternatives.
Which one? Asked shoppers to share some of the worst examples of shrink inflation they’ve seen in supermarkets in recent months.
Examples were Aquafresh Complete Care Original toothpaste, the price of which rose from £1.30 for 100ml to £2 for 75ml at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Ocado, a 105 per cent increase per 100ml.
Bottles of Gaviscon Heartburn and Indigestion Liquid were reduced from 600ml to 500ml, while the price at Sainsbury’s also remained at £14, a 20 per cent increase per 100ml.
Which one? It also found that Sainsbury’s Scottish oats have dropped by 1kg per 500g, while the price has increased from £1.25 to £2.10, an increase of 236 per cent per 100g.
Nescafe Original instant coffee at Tesco, Morrisons and Asda has dropped from 200g to 190g, an increase of 5 per cent per 100g.
As the cost of confectionery raw materials increased, shoppers reported several instances of entire chocolate bars missing from multipacks.
In one example, which one? The KitKat Two-Finger Milk Chocolate Bar Multipack dropped from 21 bars to 18 bars, while the price at Ocado also rose from £3.60 to £5.50, a 53 per cent increase.
Shoppers planning to buy chocolate tubs for the festive season may see lighter boxes this year, the watchdog has warned.
Quality Street chocolate tubs have been reduced from 600g to 550g, while the price of smaller tubs at Morrisons has increased from £6 to £7 this year.
Meanwhile, multipacks of Cadbury’s Freddo and Fudge bars dropped from five bars to four bars at Morrisons, Ocado and Tesco, even though the £1.40 price remained unchanged.
The price of Terry’s Chocolate Orange Ball Toffee Crunch remained unchanged by £2, but the size at Tesco went from 152g to 145g, a 5 per cent increase.
Also the products are getting smaller, which one? There were also reports of key ingredients missing from some of the country’s favorite dishes as manufacturers look for ways to cut costs.
The consumer group found the amount of cocoa butter in White KitKats was reduced, now at less than 20 percent, meaning they can no longer be marketed as a white chocolate product.
It follows McVitie’s favorites including Penguin and Club bars which now contain more palm oil and shea oil than cocoa, meaning they can no longer be legally sold as chocolate biscuits.
McVitie’s White Digestives contain no cocoa butter at all and therefore cannot be marketed as a white chocolate biscuit.
Which one? Retail editor Reena Sevraz said: “Families are already under huge financial pressure with food bills rising and Christmas expenses looming, so it can feel particularly strange when manufacturers quietly reduce pack sizes or downgrade key ingredients.
“Supermarkets need to be more clear about their prices so it is easier to see what the best value is.
“This includes making sure their unit pricing is prominent, legible and consistent across stores and online to help customers easily compare the costs of different brands and packaging sizes – this way shoppers can be more confident they are getting the best value.”
A spokeswoman for Mondelez International, which makes Cadbury products, described any change in size as a “last resort”.
He continued: “However, as a food producer, we are experiencing significantly higher input costs in our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy, which are widely used in our products, costing much more than before.
“Meanwhile, other costs such as energy and transportation also remain high.
“This means our products are still more expensive to make and while we have covered these costs where possible, we still face significant challenges
“As a result of this difficult environment, we have had to take the decision to slightly reduce the weight of our Cadbury Fudge and Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo multipacks so that we can continue to provide consumers with their favorite brands, without compromising the great taste and quality they have come to expect.”
A Nestlé spokesperson said: “Like every manufacturer, we have seen a significant increase in the cost of coffee, making our products more expensive to manufacture.
“As always, we will continue to be more efficient and absorb rising costs where possible.
“To maintain the same high quality and delicious taste that consumers know and love, it has sometimes been necessary to make adjustments to the weight or size of some of our products.
“Retail pricing is always at the discretion of individual retailers.”
Regarding White KitKat, he said: “Like every manufacturer, we have seen a significant increase in the cost of cocoa over the years making our products more expensive to manufacture.
“To continue to provide great value to shoppers, it is sometimes necessary to adjust the recipes of some of our products.”
A spokesperson for the Food and Drink Federation said: “Cocoa prices rose sharply last year, reaching a 45-year high.
“With other rising costs such as the National Insurance increase and a new packaging tax, manufacturers are paying around 40 per cent more for materials and energy than in January 2020.
“As a result, in some cases food manufacturers will have to modify their products to continue offering shoppers their favorite foods and drinks at affordable prices.”