![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/\/ec48a3a6-2974-4c7e-8bb4-7af3722a3c47.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFrom toothpaste to coffee, medicine to chocolate, \u201cshrinkflation\u201d is still rife on Britain\u2019s high streets, according to Which?, the consumer group.<\/p>\n
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, Nescaf\u00e9, KitKat and Cadbury.<\/p>\n
Among the most striking examples, Aquafresh Complete Care Original toothpaste was found to have shrunk from 100ml to 75ml while the price rose from \u00a31.30 to \u00a32 at Tesco, Sainsbury\u2019s and Ocado. In the same aisle, Gaviscon Liquid Heartburn & Indigestion bottles were reduced from 600ml to 500ml, although the price at Sainsbury\u2019s remained \u00a314.<\/p>\n
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Manufacturers and retailers insist the changes are a reluctant response to rising costs<\/p>\n
GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
Even budget staples have not escaped the trend. Sainsbury\u2019s Scottish Oats, previously sold in 1kg bags, are now offered in 500g packs at \u00a32.10 \u2014 up from \u00a31.25 for the larger size, representing a 236 per cent increase per 100g. Coffee lovers are also paying more for less. Nescaf\u00e9 Original Instant Coffee tins have been trimmed from 200g to 190g at Tesco, Morrisons and Asda.<\/p>\n
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 \u00a33.60 to \u00a35.50. Festive favourites have also slimmed down. Quality Street tubs, once 600g, now weigh 550g. At Morrisons, the smaller tub costs \u00a37, up from \u00a36 last year.<\/p>\n
\u2022 KitKat is cool for kids, thanks to its funky flavours<\/a><\/p>\n Other popular chocolates were also affected. Multipacks of Cadbury\u2019s Freddo and Fudge bars now contain four bars instead of five, yet still retail for \u00a31.40.<\/p>\n Alongside shrinking sizes, Which? also flagged products where ingredients had been substituted or reduced to cut manufacturing costs, a practice known as \u201cskimpflation\u201d. It found that White KitKats no longer contain enough cocoa butter (less than 20 per cent) to be legally sold as white chocolate. <\/p>\n McVitie\u2019s Penguin and Club bars<\/a> have also been reformulated to include more palm and shea oils and less cocoa, meaning they can only be described as having a \u201cchocolate-flavour coating\u201d. White Chocolate Digestives now contain no cocoa butter at all.<\/p>\n Which? said supermarkets must be \u201cmore upfront about their prices\u201d<\/p>\n GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n Which? said these quiet recipe downgrades were a growing concern because they made it harder for consumers to compare quality and make informed choices.<\/p>\n Reena Sewraz, the retail editor at Which?, said households already facing higher food bills \u201ccan feel [it is] especially sneaky when manufacturers quietly reduce pack sizes or downgrade key ingredients\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/\/ee223f00-fd04-4142-9d9d-c5a7c8a71f7b.jpg\")
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