Fungus Found in Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar in Hyderabad. Company Responds

New Delhi: It's always marvellous to open a chocolate bar, but what if you find fungus growing on it? Yes, this is precisely what happened to a man in Hyderabad who discovered fungus on a popular chocolate brand Cadbury's Dairy Milk. On the chocolate, Not only he discovered mold and but also cornersthat were chipped and jarred. 

A post is going viral on the internet with pictures of contaminated bar of chocolate. One of the pictures showcased few parts of the chocolate covered with fungus while other part of the chocolate featured a small hole. The most shocking thing is that the manufacturing date of the chocolate was January 2024 and the expiry date was 12 months post manufacture.

The man tagged Cadbury Dairy Milk’s official X handle with the caption, "“The manufacturing of these dairy milk is January 2024, expiry is best before 12 months from manufacture. Found them like this when I opened it. Look into this.

The post swiftly got humungous traction and social media users thronged to the comments section with their opinions. Some people even shared their own disappointing expereince with the brand. A section of the internet asked the man to file a case in the consumer court as well.

One user said, "The store owner didn't preserve it well." A third user commented."
A second stated, "It’s all because of something called 'chocolate bloom'. When your chocolate goes from warm to cold and back again, it can change its chemical structure. This happens because the cocoa butter in the chocolate melts and separates from the rest of it, making it crystallize."

A third assumed, "The store owner didn't preserve it well." A third user commented, "This is probably poor refrigeration, I thought at first. But the fungus means that there was an issue with packaging itself. Surely Cadbury's issue."
Another user said, ""This is disgusting."

A fourth user wrote, "I had similar experience with @DairyMilkIn. 100rs bar had to throw it away. Didn't care about it but that is something they should look at."

Cadbury's Response to the Tweet 

Meanwhile, Cadbury Dairy Milk issued a clarification in a reply to the tweet. The company said, "Hi, Mondelez India Foods Private Limited (formerly Cadbury India Ltd) endeavours to maintain the highest quality standards, and we regret to note that you have had an unpleasant experience. To enable us to address your concern, please write to us at Suggestions@mdlzindia.com providing us with your full name, address, phone number and purchase details. To enable us to action your complaint we request all these details. Thank you, Consumer Conversation, Mondelez India Foods Private Limited (formerly Cadbury India Ltd)."

Mondelez's Statement 

Meanwhile Mondelez issued a statement  which said, "At Mondelez we follow the internationally accepted HACCP (Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points) programme, which is the most comprehensive food safety system, to ensure that our products are free from any physical, chemical, and microbiological issues. Chocolate like any other food product requires specific care and attention in the distribution chain, retail environment and in storage. Every Cadbury product label mentions the storage instruction: 'Store in a cool, hygienic and dry place'. We are trying to contact the consumer but have not heard back. We would encourage the consumer to come forward and share their experience on our email ID or Toll-free number as mentioned on the back of our packs and provide us the product for further testing which is critical for investigating the complaint”.

Telangana State Food laboratory discovers worms, webs in Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates

The Telangana State Food laboratory discovered white worms and webs in two Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates that were sent by a man for testing in February 2024. In its report, the laboratory stated that the chocolates were "unsafe" for eating. 

The Telangana State Food Laboratory discovered white worms and webs in two samples of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates sent for testing. According to the laboratory's report, the chocolates were deemed "unsafe" for consumption. The chocolates sent for testing were Cadbury's Dairy Milk Roasted Almond and Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut variants.

For the unversed, activist Robin Zaccheus got the chocolates from a supermarket in Hyderabad's Ameerpet on February 9. After seeing worms in the chocolates, he relayed them for testing.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Zaccheus shared the report of the Telangana State Food Laboratory. "The sample contains white worms and webs and hence is considered unsafe under Section 3 (zz) (iii) (ix) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006," the report by the laboratory said.

The activist then tagged Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and urged him to penalise FMCG companies for supplying unsafe products that children consume very often. "Dear Mansukh Mandviya ji, my sincere appeal to you! Pls do not let not these companies make mockery of the system. These violent must be strictly punished and licenses should be cancelled”, he added.

Reacting to the post, Mondelez, the parent company of Cadbury, assured consumers that the product remained unaffected throughout the manufacturing process. "Mondelez follows the internationally accepted HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) programme, which is the most comprehensive food safety system in the world, to ensure that our products are free from any physical, chemical and microbiological issues," Mondelez shared on X.

"Chocolate, like any other food product, requires specific care and attention in the distribution chain, retail environment and in storage. We have tested the samples of the same batch, as well as other batches manufactured around the same time, and found no issues," it added.