A CONSUMER watchdog has called for action after shoppers were told they are "not imagining it" over the reducing size of sweet treats, toilet rolls and countless other products.
In an analysis of so-called 'shrinkflation' the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that as many as 2529 products have been reduced in size over the past five years and are making life more expensive.
Over the same period 614 products had become larger between 2012 and 2017.
The statistics agency said chocolate manufacturers had blamed the drop in size on the rising cost of raw materials.
Last year Toblerone came under fire after the space between the distinctive triangles of its bars was increased. Mondelez International, the company behind the product, said the change was made due to price rises in recent months.
American confectionary firm Mars, which owns favourite sweets such as Maltesers, M&M's and Ministrels went on to reduce bag weights by 15 per cent.
Doritos have downsized from 200g a packet to 180g, Peperamis came in 22.5g packets having slimmed down by 2.5g.
McVities's Digestives dark chocolate biscuits dropped in size from 332g to 300g, while the price increased by 10p to £1.69p in Tesco, according Which?
The consumer website also said Tropicana Creations Pure Premium Orange and Raspberry juice has also decreased from 1 litre to 850ml, but the price in Asda remained at £2.48.
Which?, the consumer group, called for more transparency over the changes from the makers.
Alex Neill, Which? home products and services managing director said: "We have found that many popular household and food products have shrunk over the years, often with the price staying the same or increasing.
"Manufacturers and retailers should make any changes to their products clear otherwise they risk people feeling cheated."
Of the shrinking consumer products, 2,006 were food items with notable shrinkages including bags of sweets, soft drinks, toilet rolls and disposable nappies.
According to the ONS analysis, the product that increased in size include crisps and hand-rolling tobacco, following a change in the law requiring pouches to contain a minimum of 30g of tobacco.
The ONS cast doubt on whether raw material costs are really rising.
The European import price of sugar has been falling since the middle of 2014, and reached a record low in March 2017, it said. Meanwhile, cocoa prices have dropped sharply since record highs seen in 2015.
And the analysts said it was not just chocolate bars that have been subject to so-called "shrinkflation".
It said toilet rolls, coffee and fruit juice were also being sold in smaller packet sizes.
Andrex admitted its rolls were smaller, but said they were now better quality.
"Reducing the roll by a number of sheets has helped us make this multi-million pound investment in product performance possible," a spokesman said. "Consumer pricing is solely in the domain of the retailer."
The ONS also brushed aside the idea of Brexit being a key factor behind the falling size of chocolate bars.
It said: "Manufacturers' costs may also be rising because of the recent fall in the value of the pound - leading some commentators to attribute shrinkflation on the UK's decision to leave the European Union.
"But our analysis doesn't show a noticeable change following the referendum that would point towards a Brexit effect.
"Furthermore, others (including Which?) had been observing these shrinking pack sizes long before the EU referendum, and several manufacturers have denied that this is a major factor."
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