Chocolate lovers have criticized Cadbury for “counter-inflation” after noticing that Twirl multi-packs now only contain three bars instead of four, while the price has remained unchanged.
Shoppers took to
Twirl’s four-packs previously contained four sets of two bars, each pair weighing 34 grams, for a total of 136 grams.
The new packaging contains three sets of two Twirl fingers, weighing 43 grams, for a total of 129 grams.
Like the multi-pack above, the three-pack also costs £1.75, meaning customers pay the same price for seven grams (or five per cent) less chocolate in each serving.
The reduced size has been criticized on X, as well as grocery websites such as Asda and Ocado, with one person tagging the food and drink giant in their angry message.
They wrote: ‘Just a curious post to point out an issue with @CadburyUK.
‘They’ve reduced Twirl’s multipack sizes from 4×2 bars to 3×2 bars, but they’re still charging the same.
Chocolate lovers have criticized Cadbury for “counter-inflation” after noticing that Twirl multi-packs now only contain three bars instead of four, while the price has remained unchanged.
Shoppers took to X, formerly Twitter, to complain about the “outrageous” change that means they pay the same price for a smaller quantity of their favorite chocolate.
“I’m not sure about other lines,” they continued. “Prices are skyrocketing from £1.10 to £1.75 and this is frankly outrageous.”
Another customer stated that the switch to Twirl multipacks was an example of “the bloated squeeze gone too far.”
They said: ‘Twirl bars were already getting smaller and smaller but suddenly Cadbury’s has reduced the multi-pack from 4 to 3 bars.
‘I couldn’t believe it. I had to find a replacement,” his X post read.
A customer review of Twirl multi-packs, posted on Asda’s website, said: ‘I used to buy these all the time, I won’t anymore.
‘You only get three, it’s (sic) disgusting, even though the price didn’t go down at all.
“It would be better to start buying the individual ones, it will end up being cheaper,” they continued, calling the multi-pack a “scam.”
Writing on Ocado, another unhappy shopper said: ‘3 43g bars instead of 4 34g bars. That is, 7 g less for the same price.’
Photos showed the new three-packs selling for the same price as the previous four-packs.
Mondelez International, the company that owns Cadbury Chocolates, said in a statement to The Sun that the “slight reduction” in the weight of Twirl multipacks was due to “manufacturing limitations that cannot be easily resolved.”
A company spokesperson added that there were no plans to change the four-packs of its other chocolate bars, including Wispa, Flakes and Dairy Milk.
The statement read: “Due to manufacturing limitations that cannot be easily resolved, we have made the decision to move from packs containing four smaller Cadbury Twirl Two-Finger Bars to packs containing three full-size Cadbury Twirl Two-Finger Bars. “.
“While we appreciate that there is a slight reduction in the overall weight of our Cadbury Twirl multipacks, this move allows us to retain the two-finger proposition within our Multipack offering, which is a defining and much appreciated feature of the Cadbury Twirl brand by our consumers.
‘We remain committed to offering choice to consumers and continue to offer a range of different pack sizes within our Cadbury multipack range.
“We currently have no plans to make any similar changes to the remaining pack of our Cadbury 4-pack range and are confident that our new Cadbury Twirl 3×2 pack will complement our existing multi-pack range and offer great value to consumers through its exclusive twin package. -Finger proposition’, concludes the message.
The scrutiny over the size of Twirl’s multipacks comes days after shoppers criticized Cadbury, which lost its 170-year-old royal warrant last December, for what they said was “mold” on the packaging of the popular chocolate for drink brand powder.
Chocoholics will remember that there were shortages of the product over the festive period after it was removed from supermarket shelves at the end of 2024 for “quality” reasons.
Responding to the criticism, Mondelez International, the company that owns Cadbury Chocolates, said the “slight reduction” in the weight of Twirl multipacks was due to “manufacturing limitations that cannot be easily resolved.”
At the time, Cadbury’s parent company Mondelez International confirmed that they had identified a “food quality issue” in some packaging, which meant that “the texture and color of the product may not look as expected.”
They added: “As a result, we have quickly removed affected products from retailers to make targeted improvements to future production.”
Despite assurances that all Cadbury products were “safe to consume”, shoppers took to social media armed with images of “unusual” white flecks among their hot chocolate powder.
Some even claimed their Cadbury drinking chocolate was riddled with “mould”.
On X, one user said: “Found what looked like mold on a new can of Cadbury hot chocolate.”
Another tweeted: ‘This happened to me twice. Two new bathtubs purchased at different times. Disgusting!’
A third shared a similar horrible experience, saying: “Small fuzzy molds were growing on what was a tall sealed container of powdered hot chocolate with an expiry date of 2026, and the powder has suspiciously disappeared from all stores, so I can’t replace him.” .’
In response to the dissatisfied customer in X, Cadbury UK said: ‘Hello. We are aware of an issue with our current supply of Cadbury hot chocolate; however, they are still completely safe to consume.
“If you are not satisfied, please contact our customer service team.”
“That’s fuzzy mold,” the user responded. “(Cadbury customer service) asked for pictures and then stopped responding.”
A Mondelez spokesperson told FEMAIL that ensuring customers enjoy Cadbury products of “consistently high quality” is “extremely important”.
“We identified a food quality issue in Cadbury Drinking Chocolate products late last year, meaning that in some cases the texture and color of the product may not have looked as expected and the product was quickly withdrawn from retailers.” said the spokesperson.
“While this is a quality issue, meaning that all existing hot chocolate products are completely safe to consume, the consistency of our products is of vital importance to us.”
They added: “If anyone is not completely satisfied with the quality of a Cadbury Drinking Chocolate product they have purchased, we ask that they contact our consumer services team for assistance.”