Things are not all sweet for confectionary giant Cadbury just a week out from Dunedin's annual chocolate carnival.
The company's new recipe adds palm oil and cuts back on cocoa butter, which is not to the taste of all chocolate fans, and the chocolate has also shrunk.
Dunedin mother Martha Dewey is a self-confessed chocaholic. She usually chomps through a couple of blocks a week, but got a surprise after inspecting her favourite Cadbury block of chocolate.
"It's a little bit smaller, bit of a ripoff, and you still pay the same," says Ms Dewey, "so I don't think it's very fair."
When Cadbury repackaged its chocolate in cardboard boxes, it also reduced sizes. A king-size block of Dairy Milk dropped from 250g to just 200g – a 20 percent reduction. The company also changed the recipe, cutting the amount of cocoa butter and replacing it with palm oil, listed as vegetable fat.
Ms Dewey is not impressed.
"Slightly greasy aftertaste, or it feels slightly greasy on the roof of your mouth, and doesn't taste quite as rich."
Top Wellington pastry chef Pauline Nunns uses chocolate in her cooking, and says the increase in vegetable fat means it takes longer to melt in the mouth.
On the streets of Dunedin, chocolate fans were mixed on the new recipe.
"There's like a bad aftertaste," said one person 3 News spoke to. "I like the first one better."
"It tastes kind of smoother," said another.
Cadbury says the recipe and size changes are about both economics and taste, with the palm oil helping create a softer chocolate. The company also said that keeping the blocks at the previous sizes was not viable with the skyrocketing costs of cocoa and sugar.
Cadbury says it has ensured that the palm oil it uses is certified as "sustainably sourced".
Nestle is also downsizing. Its popular Mars bars are now slimmer. The company claims the resizing is in response to the obesity epidemic.
3 News
Dr Paul Pickering, senior lecturer, sales and marketing, AUT, speaks to RadioLIVE on why consumers react so strongly to our favourite brands being altered.