Blue Dragon has removed two noodle nests from its egg noodle packs and shrunk their weight by 50g.
It has replaced its old 300g packs of fine egg noodles, medium egg noodles and whole wheat noodles – which each contained six noodle nests – with 250g packs containing four nests each.
Despite shrinking in size, the shelf price of the noodle packs has risen in some cases, according to research by The Grocer using Assosia data [12 w/e 19 October 2023].
In Morrisons, for instance, the old 300g packs were being sold at £1.50. They have been replaced by the smaller 250g packs at a shelf price of £1.79 - equivalent to a 43.2% price increase per 100g noodles.
The 300g packs were also priced at £1.50 in Tesco – but have since been swapped for 250g packs at £1.75, which are 40% pricier per 100g.
At Asda, prices have stuck at £1.25, despite the packs shrinking in size. This means they are now 16.8% more expensive per 100g noodles.
A spokeswoman for Blue Dragon owner AB World Foods said the manufacturer “taken the difficult decision to change the size of some of our products because of significant increases in the cost of ingredients, energy, and transportation”.
“In the case of Blue Dragon Egg Noodles, we have improved the product itself at the same time, making the noodle nests less tightly bound and so easier to cook,” she added.
“The price of our products as sold in store or online is always at the sole discretion of the retailer.”
Morrisons and Tesco declined to comment on the shelf price increases. Asda had not responded to requests at the time of writing.
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