From toothpaste to coffee, medicine to chocolate, “shrinkflation” is still rife on Britain’s high streets, according to Which?, the consumer group.
Which? invited shoppers to share recent examples of products getting smaller without a corresponding reduction in price, then verified the findings. It uncovered dozens of cases across major supermarkets and household brands, including Aquafresh, Gaviscon, Nescafé, KitKat and Cadbury.
Among the most striking examples, Aquafresh Complete Care Original toothpaste was found to have shrunk from 100ml to 75ml while the price rose from £1.30 to £2 at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Ocado. In the same aisle, Gaviscon Liquid Heartburn & Indigestion bottles were reduced from 600ml to 500ml, although the price at Sainsbury’s remained £14.
Manufacturers and retailers insist the changes are a reluctant response to rising costs
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Even budget staples have not escaped the trend. Sainsbury’s Scottish Oats, previously sold in 1kg bags, are now offered in 500g packs at £2.10 — up from £1.25 for the larger size, representing a 236 per cent increase per 100g. Coffee lovers are also paying more for less. Nescafé Original Instant Coffee tins have been trimmed from 200g to 190g at Tesco, Morrisons and Asda.
Chocolate products, which have been hit by soaring global cocoa prices, showed some of the steepest changes. KitKat Two-Finger multipacks dropped from 21 bars to 18, while prices at Ocado jumped from £3.60 to £5.50. Festive favourites have also slimmed down. Quality Street tubs, once 600g, now weigh 550g. At Morrisons, the smaller tub costs £7, up from £6 last year.
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Other popular chocolates were also affected. Multipacks of Cadbury’s Freddo and Fudge bars now contain four bars instead of five, yet still retail for £1.40.
Alongside shrinking sizes, Which? also flagged products where ingredients had been substituted or reduced to cut manufacturing costs, a practice known as “skimpflation”. It found that White KitKats no longer contain enough cocoa butter (less than 20 per cent) to be legally sold as white chocolate.
McVitie’s Penguin and Club bars have also been reformulated to include more palm and shea oils and less cocoa, meaning they can only be described as having a “chocolate-flavour coating”. White Chocolate Digestives now contain no cocoa butter at all.
Which? said supermarkets must be “more upfront about their prices”
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Which? said these quiet recipe downgrades were a growing concern because they made it harder for consumers to compare quality and make informed choices.
Reena Sewraz, the retail editor at Which?, said households already facing higher food bills “can feel [it is] especially sneaky when manufacturers quietly reduce pack sizes or downgrade key ingredients”.
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Manufacturers and retailers insist the changes are a reluctant response to rising costs. Mondelez International, which makes Cadbury products, said reducing the weight of Freddo and Fudge bars was a “last resort”. It pointed to significantly higher prices for cocoa, dairy, energy and transport, which have made production much more expensive.
Nestlé, which produces Nescafé and KitKat, said it too had faced sharp increases in coffee and cocoa prices. The company said adjustments to pack sizes or recipes were made “to maintain the same high quality and delicious taste”.
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The Food and Drink Federation (FDF), representing UK manufacturers, noted that cocoa prices reached a 45-year high last year. The trade group said the average cost of raw materials and energy rose 39 per cent between January 2020 and September 2025, while retail food prices climbed by 37 per cent over the same period.
More than one in five food and drink manufacturers reported cost increases of 10 per cent or more this year alone. Analysts said those pressures were likely to persist, given volatile global commodity markets and rising labour costs.
Which? said that transparency was key. Sewraz said: “Supermarkets must be more upfront about their prices so that it’s easy to see what the best value is. This includes ensuring that their unit pricing is prominent, legible and consistent in-store and online to help customers easily compare costs across different brands and sizes of packaging. That way, shoppers can be more confident they’re getting the best value.”
Shrinkflation in numbers
Sainsbury’s Scottish Oats: from 1kg to 500g (and the price increased from £1.25 to £2.10) — a 236 per cent increase per 100g
Aquafresh Complete Care Original toothpaste: from £1.30 for 100ml to £2 for 75ml, a 105 per cent price rise per 100ml
Gaviscon Liquid Heartburn & Indigestion: from 600ml to 500ml, selling at £14 at Sainsbury’s, a 20 per cent rise per 100ml
KitKat Two-Finger Milk Chocolate Bar multipack: from 21 bars to 18, with a price rise from £3.60 to £5.50, a jump of 53 per cent
Quality Street: from 600g to 550g, with a price rise from £6 to £7, a 27 per cent increase per 100g
Terry’s Chocolate Orange Toffee Crunch Ball: from 152g to 145g at Tesco, a 5 per cent increase per 100g