Maltesers are now the latest victims of the curse of shrinkflation.
Sharing packs – in the UK at least – are now seven lighter chocolates, in a trend which sees manufacturers reduce sizes while keeping prices the same.
The tactic has been used on everything from teabags to toilet rolls.
The packs have shrunk from 189g to 175g – a fall of seven per cent, or seven chocolates – but still cost £2 in most UK supermarkets.
A spokesman for brand owner Mars Wrigley said: “We have been absorbing the rising costs of raw materials and operations for some time, but the growing pressures we are facing mean that more needs to be done.”
Last month, the company reduced its Twix bars by one per cent, to just a third of its original size.
Meanwhile Cadburys slashed the size of Dairy Milk bars by 10 per cent in March.
A spokesman for its owner Mondelez said: “Our products are much more expensive to make.”
Mars Wrigley media representatives in Australia have been contacted for comment.
Last month Aussies were rocked by the news that the price of a snag and bread at Bunnings was set to increase for the first time in 15 years.
A Bunnings sausage sizzle will go up from $2.50 to $3.50 at stores across Australia from July 23, it was revealed, as community groups struggle to cover the rising cost of ingredients.
Last month it was also revealed that Coles and Woolworths will charge more for home-brand milk from in yet another hit to household budgets.
Australians face a big rise in the cost of a pint, with the country’s beer tax recording its biggest increase in more than 30 years.
As of Monday August 1, the beer tax goes up to 4 per cent, adding about 80-84 cents to the cost of a pint of the much-loved amber liquid. This means you may soon be paying $15 for your favorite glass.
And there’s no escape for those who buy their beer by the slab. The beer tax will rise from $53.59 to $55.73 per liter of the beverage’s alcohol content, raising the tax on a carton about 80c, to $18.80.
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The tax on a keg will jump about $4, raising the cost to almost $74.
Because of this price hike, Brewers Association of Australia chief executive John Preston warned that patrons might now have to fork out $15 for a pint at their local pub or bar.
“For a small pub, club or other venue the latest tax hike will mean an increase of more than $2700 a year in their tax bill – at a time when they are still struggling to deal with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic,” he said .
The biannual alcohol excise is based upon the consumer price index (CPI), which is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by households for a fixed number of goods and services.
According to the ABS, the June CPI increased by 6.1 per cent over the last 12 months, with goods accounting for 79 per cent of the rise this quarter.
Due to the tax increase, patrons may now have to pay $15 for a pint at their local pub or bar. Credit: Getty Images
Publican of the Royal Albert Hotel in Sydney’s Surry Hills, Michael Bain, said that while the increase was certainly high, beer tax increased twice a year every year (in February and August), meaning the issue isn’t a particularly new one.
“These price rises … just keep affecting us all the time,” he said.
“Because of COVID, I think a lot of people didn’t put the excise on…so I think this is why it’s affected us more this time.
“Especially some of the craft brewers that we use, they’ve been absorbing those CPI increases. But even the small guys now are going to have to pass it on, so it will mean a price rise across the board for us.”
Preston said the industry had seen “almost 20 increases in Australia’s beer tax over the past decade alone”.
“Australians are taxed on beer more than almost any other nation,” he said.
If patrons are forced to pay $15 for a pint of beer, Bain said he believes people will still buy it, but may buy fewer beers.
“Instead of buying three beers, they’ll buy two. I think they really will buy one less,” he said.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Credit: AAP
According to Preston, breweries and pub and club operators were “extremely disappointed” when the former government did not deliver its proposed beer tax reduction in this year’s budget, and that the new Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has now “inherited” the Liberals’ problem .
“We believe there is a strong case for beer tax relief to be provided by the new federal government, with the hidden beer tax to go up again in February 2023,” he said.
Bain agrees, saying another possible solution could be cutting down the tax from twice a year to once a year.
“I’m not saying they shouldn’t do it and we need to pay taxes for health care and all that kind of stuff, but at what point do you just keep gouging everyone?
“You can’t keep incrementally adding on all the time at these massive rates
“(It’s) kinda like you’re absolutely smashing people with tax.”
Two egg and sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant has cost an Australian-bound passenger $2664, as the nation’s biosecurity remains on high alert for fear of foot and mouth disease.
The passenger, arriving from Indonesia, allegedly provided a false and misleading document and failed to declare the potential high biosecurity risk item.
The three items were sniffed out by Darwin’s new biosecurity detector dog Zinta last week.
They will be tested for foot and mouth disease before they are destroyed.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said not only was not declaring food items a crime, it threatened Australia’s status as being foot and mouth disease – which has torn through Indonesia’s cloven hoofed animals – free.
A passenger has been fined more than $2664 for failing to declare their McDonald’s McMuffins and a ham croissant. Credit: Supplied
“This will be the most expensive Macca’s meal this passenger ever has,” Senator Watt said.
“This fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali, but I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught.
“Australia is FMD-free, and we want it to stay that way.
“Biosecurity is no joke – it helps protect jobs, our farms, food and supports the economy. Passengers who choose to travel need to make sure they are fulfilling the conditions to enter Australia, by following all biosecurity measures.”
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said Australia was taking foot and mouth disease seriously. NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall Credit: News Corp Australia
Zinta’s discovery of the products comes as Indonesian authorities say they have foot and mouth disease under control in four provinces, including in Bali.
Last month the federal government announced a $14m package to roll out more frontline defenses in protecting from foot and mouth disease, including biosecurity dogs at Darwin and Cairns airports.
The government also rolled out sanitation foot mats at all international airports.
Australia has also dispatched support for Indonesia and other countries.
Strings of seashells, coils of red feathers and dolphin teeth are traditional currencies that are used to say “I love you” in parts of the Solomon Islands.
The shells play a significant role in traditional bride price ceremonies, which are used to mark when a woman leaves her family to settle with her husband.
But for Australian-based Solomon Islander Terry Wong, tracking down the shell money for his bride-to-be — my sister Azalea — was no easy feat.
For generations, strings of shells have been used to trade and settle disputes, long before cash was introduced.
Shell money is still used in provinces including Malaita, Makira and Guadalcanal and families often have a treasure box of the currency hidden in their homes.
Ten strings of shells makes one “tafulia’e” and its value varies depending on the length.(Supplied)
Solomon Islands is home to a range of traditional currencies, and some are easier to find than others.
Some provinces use large disc-shaped clam shells called “bakiha”, while others use dolphin teeth or red feather money.
While the red feather money from Santa Cruz Islands in the eastern part of the country is no longer in use after the small scarlet honeyeater bird became difficult to find, dolphin teeth and shell money are still commonly used.
To create shell money, the seashells are broken, smoothed and collected in strings of 10 to form a “tafulia’e”.
The different lengths of string have different value and a single tafulia’e can be worth anywhere between $100 and $500.
Dancing, music and shouting on the big day
Traditional dancing is part of farewelling the bride as she begins the next chapter of her life.(Supplied)
On the day of the bride price ceremony, Terry and his family arrive at our home in Honiara in a convoy of vehicles to a chorus of tooting horns, laughing and shouting, and we welcome them with plenty of music and dancing.
It’s a big deal for Azalea’s loved ones, who have come out in large numbers to witness her bride price and farewell her with traditional dances.
Terry’s family bring items to pay the bride price: live pigs, bags of rice, root crops, traditional mats and a small black box of shell money — the most valuable item of all.
“It was a hard time [finding the shell money] but we just endured it,” Terry says.
“It’s for someone I love and also, as shown today, my family loves her too.”
The day is filled with cultural exchanges and words of encouragement for the new couple.(Supplied)
Terry’s family is from the province of Temotu in the eastern part of the Solomons. It’s closer to Vanuatu and shell money isn’t part of their culture.
Terry’s grand uncle Solomon Palusi says finding the shell money was “very difficult but wasn’t impossible.”
“We tried our very best to take the shell money.”
It’s for people like Terry that a shop has recently opened in Honiara’s Chinatown, selling shell money for cash, targeting three of the nine provinces in the country that use the traditional currency.
Why is shell money so hard to find?
Shell money shop owner Mary Sifoburi is from Langa Langa in Malaita province, a community known for crafting the currency.
“Basically, the process of making shell money involves 10 steps before the product comes to completion,” Mary says.
The shells are smoothened and ground flat before a small drill is used to create a hole in the center of the shell, and a tuna tin is used as a makeshift scale to weigh them.
Mary’s sister Angella and their mother Veronica start the long process of making shell money.(ABC News: Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong)
“In the past it would take two to three days because of the manual drill used. But now with the introduction of the new drill, a person can drill three to four tins [worth] per day,” Mary says.
The shells are placed on hot rocks to change color before final grinding is done.
It’s not an easy task and it can take up to two weeks to find a single shell.
The process of making shell money is slow and the shells can be hard to find.(ABC News: Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong)
“There are different kinds of shells involved in the process of shell money, so we have black shells, white shells and red shells,” Mary says.
The harder the shell is to find, the higher the value.
“For now, I can say that the value is based on the people who produce the shells but because right now… we do not have any standard regulations to guide the value of the shells, the prices vary,” she says.
Concerns currency will fall out of circulation
Father of the bride Steve Aumanu has noticed the monetary value of shell money shift over the decades but the cultural value has so far endured the test of time.
“It’s being commercialized, the value of the shell is called by those who produce it and those who are price takers, we don’t have much choice,” he says.
With shell money now so difficult to find and its price increasing, community elders fear it will some day lose its place in the three provinces.
“I don’t know whether it will cease to be recognized but for the time being, the value has been ascending,” Steve says.
The bride and her cousins on traditional mats.(Supplied)
Back at the bride price ceremony, the bride stands with her cousins on traditional mats called “kaufe”, which in the Malaitan custom recognizes her leaving her family home with dignity and pride.
An honoring ceremony of Azalea’s closest aunties and grand aunties also takes place where the groom’s side hands over monetary gifts in red envelopes that reflect Terry’s father’s Chinese heritage.
Azalea’s grandmother was among those thanked for helping raise her, as part of the bride ceremony.(ABC News: Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong)
The moment of truth
The most anticipated part of the ceremony comes when the bride’s father either accepts or declines the bride price from the groom’s side — there have been instances where it has been rejected.
But not this time around.
During the ceremony, more than 20 tafulia’e are given to the bride’s father by the groom’s father.
Waiting to see if the bride price will be accepted is the most anticipated part of the ceremony.(Supplied)
“Traditionally when there’s a marriage ceremony between two people, that’s a significant event in the life of a family or tribe and this one is no different,” Steve says.
“When we are all together to witness, it’s a manifestation of a great valuable cultural undertaking.”
And on the occasion of my sister’s bride price ceremony, the enduring value of the shell money and the traditions that come with it, are clear.
Azalea’s father Steve says coming together for the bride price ceremony is a “valuable cultural undertaking.”(Supplied)
