Overview
- Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg’s lawsuit against Mondelez got its first hearing at the Bremen regional court, and the court said no ruling would come yet.
- The group says many Milka bars dropped from 100 to 90 grams with the same purple pack and a bar that is about a millimeter thinner, and prices in stores often rose from €1.49 to €1.99.
- Mondelez argues the weight is printed on the wrapper and changes were explained on social media and the Milka website, and it cites higher costs as the reason for the size cut to protect quality.
- Consumer advocates call this shrinkflation because less product is sold for the same or a higher price, and they report thousands of tips a year and a list of more than 1,000 suspect packs that shoppers often miss at the shelf.
- The plaintiffs want a clear on-pack warning for at least six months and smaller packaging after cuts, industry groups oppose new mandates as costly, and a 2024 Hamburg ruling in a margarine case looms as precedent.