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Chocolate brand Cadbury - Source: ONE News -
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Cadbury has bowed to consumer pressure and agreed to stop using palm oil in its chocolate.
The moves comes after the confectionery giant received hundreds of letters and emails of complaint after it was revealed a new recipe substituted cocoa butter with vegetable fat, including palm oil.
Palm oil has been linked with the clearing of native habitat in developing countries.
Cadbury products had been banned from Auckland Zoo and a facebook group boycotting the company because of the change, swelled to almost 2,000 members.
Cadbury New Zealand Managing Director Matthew Oldham says recipes will now only use cocoa butter.
He says Cadbury is really sorry and the change is a direct response to consumer feedback.
"At the time, we genuinely believed we were making the right decision, for the right reasons."
"But we got it wrong. Now we're putting things right as soon as we possibly can, and hope Kiwis will forgive us. Cadbury Dairy Milk's quality is what's made it one of New Zealand's most trusted brands for many years. Changing the recipe put that trust at risk and I am really sorry."
Oldham said that Cadbury remains committed to its product
quality and environmental and ethical sourcing commitments.
Production of the cocoa-butter-only chocolate will resume in a few
weeks.
Cadbury says the price would not be affected by the move.
Auckland Zoo 'delighted'
Auckland Zoo says they are delighted at Cadbury's decision to remove palm oil from its dairy milk chocolate range.
The zoo pulled the confectionery giants' products from its shops and restaurants in protest of the way palm oil is harvested.
Zoo director, Jonathan Wilcken, says the oil is responsible for the rapid destruction of rainforests and is the single greatest threat to the existence of orang-utans.
He says they're proud of Cadbury's bold move and will happily reinstate palm-oil free chocolate at zoo outlets as soon as it becomes available.
Last month, Close Up investigated the war that sparked between Cadbury and Whittakers - the two chocolate giants that dominate the confectionary aisle.
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