Cadbury has shrunk its Brunch bar multipacks by 12.5% without any fall in shelf prices.
The former 5x32g packs of the Raisin, Peanut, Choc Chip and Bournville Choc Chip bars have been replaced with 5x28g ones.
Despite multipacks now being 16g lighter than they were previously – equivalent to half one of the old 32g bars – shelf prices have remained at £1.35 in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.
Multipacks of Brunch Light, a non-HFSS spin-off launched by Cadbury in April, have not shrunk in size.
However, their shelf prices have risen by 8% – from £1.25 to £1.35 in Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.
A spokeswoman for Cadbury owner Mondelez confirmed it had made “considered changes to the recommended retail price alongside small weight reductions across our core Brunch Bars”.
Mondelez was “continuing to experience significantly higher input costs across our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and sugar… costing far more than they have done previously,” she said.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons declined to comment. Asda had not responded to requests as The Grocer went to press.
Cadbury Brunch bars are the latest in a swathe of Mondelez products to be impacted by inflationary pressures.
As The Grocer reported in May, Ritz cracker packs have shrunk by as much as 30%.
The business has since made “carefully considered list price increases” to Cadbury Dairy Milk and Oreo.
The latest move comes as shoppers feel the impact of “double dip shrinkflation”, as suppliers resort to shrinking their products several times to ease cost pressures, according to Barclays research.
It found eight in 10 consumers had been hit by inflation, with over a quarter of shoppers noticing products getting smaller more than once.
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