Mars has come under fire after eagle-eyed shoppers noticed many of their popular products have moved to offshore production.

The confectionary giant‘s Australian product pages on Facebook have been swamped by angry customers who have bought Mars chocolate believing they are supporting Australian made, only to find that products are being manufactured in China, Egypt, and the Netherlands.

Chocolate fans noticed the difference in Snickers as far back as last year, and demanded to know when manufacturing would return to the company’s Australian factory in Ballarat.

“Why are snickers bars made in China? Mars Bars, Cherry Ripes, Kit Kat’s are all made in Australia. Why are we importing Snickers?”

“HOW LONG UNTIL YOU RESUME MANUFACTURING IN BALLARAT?”

“I purchased two Snickers bars from Coles; they’re made in CHINA. So rude when we think we are supporting Australia.”

“How cheeky are you calling your page Snickers Australia when you’re not even making Snickers in Australia anymore? I did hear that it was a temporary situation while awaiting factory upgrades, but this seems doubtful given the amount of time these ‘upgrades’ appear to be taking. After all, Optus stadium was built in 36 months … I hardly think we can be expected to believe that Mars factory upgrades warrant the same amount of time. Please, bring Snickers home.”

Snickers responded to some comments, stating they are working hard to complete upgrades and bring manufacturing back to Ballarat, but they did not specify a timeframe on when this would occur.

Some customers even claimed to be able to detect a difference in taste between the bars made in Australia and ones manufactured overseas:

“The Chinese-made ones are disgusting. I never thought I’d ever say that with them being my favourite chocolate bar for years now. I will not be buying another one until made here.
I would rather you not have Snickers on the shelves than to have this rubbish. The number of complaints speaks volumes. Just be honest with your customers.”

A spokesman for Mars-Wrigley Australia told Daily Mail Australia the company remained committed to manufacturing its products domestically.

“We continue to manufacture our much-loved Maltesers, M&Ms, Pods, Mars, and Milky Way products at our Ballarat factory in regional Victoria,” the spokesman said.

“To ensure we can continue to manufacture our products in Australia, we continue to invest in the factory, this includes ongoing upgrades to our Snickers manufacturing line.

“During this time we are sourcing Snickers from our Jiaxing facility near Shanghai, China.”