McVitie’s Original Digestives have become the latest product to be subject to ‘shrinkflation’ as the size of a packet was reduced rising ingredient costs.
One packet of the popular biscuits will be reduced from 500g to 400g, which is equivalent to taking seven Digestives out of a full packet of 34.
The changes by Pladis, which owns McVitie’s, follow a reduction in the number of Jaffa Cakes in a packet by the same company last year.
One packet of the popular biscuits will be reduced from 500g to 400g, which is equivalent to taking seven Digestives out of a full packet of 34
The higher cost-per-unit Digestives will start to go on sale later in January, The Times reports.
The Turkish company Pladis is said to have opted for a smaller packet rather than cheaper ingredients as it faced financial pressures.
The company’s managing director in the UK and Ireland, Nick Bunker, said it had become more expensive to bake McVitie’s products.
Which snacks are getting smaller?
A Terry’s Chocolate Orange (pictured) became 10% smaller in 2016 while the price did not change
Digestives are not the first product to fall in size recently. A Terry’s Chocolate Orange (right) became 10% smaller in 2016 while the price did not change.
Toblerone also faced the ire of shoppers after it increased the gap between the chocolate bar’s famous chunks, reducing the overall weight of the bar from 400g to 360g in 2016.
Jaffa Cakes (pictured), made by the same company as Digestives, also fell in size
McVitie’s hit the headlines for another of their products last September when they cut the number of Jaffa Cakes (right) in one tube from 12 to 10.
Fans of Maltesers were furious when it emerged that the weight of one red bag of the chocolate snacks had fallen by almost 15 per cent.
It is not just snacks and confectionery which have shrunk. Bottles of cider from Bulmers and Stella Artois used to be 568ml, almost exactly equivalent to a pint, but have fallen to a half-litre 500ml.
A box of PG Tips teabags suffered a cut in 2015 when each teabag was shrunk by 0.2g, reducing the overall weight from 250g to 232g.
And sausage lovers had to make do with less for the same price when the number of Richmond Sausages in a pack fell from 16 to 14 last year.
Pladis said it had consulted with customers whose ‘overwhelming feedback’ was that preserving the essence and taste of the biscuits should be the priority.
It is also the maker of household names such as Hobnobs, Penguin bars, and Jaffa Cakes, which were reduced from 12 to 10 in a packet last year.
The first McVitie’s Digestive biscuit was produced in 1892, with the same ‘secret recipe’ still in use today, according to the company’s website.
Mark Jones, a food and drink lawyer at Gordons law firm, said: ‘Since the Brexit referendum, we’ve seen Jaffa Cakes, Maltesers, Birds Eye fishfingers, Pepperami, Coco Pops, Toblerone and even packs of chicken at Asda getting smaller.
‘McVitie’s reducing the size of its digestive biscuits is the third time the brand has cut its pack size, following Jaffa Cakes and dark chocolate digestives.
‘It is clear that brands, such as McVitie’s, see shrinkflation as a way of maintaining margin without notably adjusting their on the shelf price.’