Cadbury Flake 99 is facing flak from sellers lately for being too crumbly as some sellers are claiming that its quality has deteriorated since production moved to Egypt.
Parent company Mondelēz International said the issues had been addressed but warned older stock might still be in circulation.
According to a report today (26), businesses are saying that Cadbury's Flake 99 arrives as box of shards and quality has dropped. Flake ice-cream toppers are half the size of the chocolate bars sold in newsagents and supermarkets. Wholesale boxes typically contain 144 flake 99s.
Katy Alston, president of the Ice Cream Alliance, told BBC how she had to throw half away in some cases because they were all broken.
“We’ve thrown away 70 in a single box before because they’ve all been broken,” Alston said. “For the first time, I won’t be using Cadbury flake this year. It feels a different product. If you order a 99, you want a good solid flake in it.”
Some businesses have claimed to resorting to buying a German imitation, saying customers don’t seem to mind and German ones are a lot denser and don’t seem to fall apart as easily.
A spokesperson for Mondelēz International said it cared about its customers and took issues with quality "very seriously", saying that the company has been making Flake 99 in Egypt since 2020 and insisted the recipe had not changed.
“Cadbury flake 99 is a naturally delicate and crumbly product,” a spokesperson said. “We are aware that recently some customers have received a product which does not meet our usual high standards.
“This has been addressed following recent improvements to our production processes, although some prior stock may remain in circulation. We are in the process of liaising with our customers (wholesalers) to support those potentially impacted.”
The row came as the first warm spell of the year hit the country. Last year, as temperature touched 34°C in some parts, Britain suffered from a shortage of the Cadbury Flake 99 due to supply issues at one of its manufacturing plants in Egypt.
Mondelez, the parent company of Cadbury, had blamed global supply issues and unexpected high demand for the scarcity of supplies at the time.
Simon Hannah
