Cadbury's Freddo Frog was invented in 1930 by Harry Melbourne, an 18 year old moulder, employed by MacRobertson's Chocolates. [1] Freddo Frog is Australia’s most popular children’s chocolate[2], and is also sold in New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Freddo Frogs are available as solid milk chocolate, or milk chocolate filled with caramel. In Australia, the product is available in a wider variety of flavours including Dairy Milk, white chocolate, rice crisp, strawberry, peppermint, "Rainbow Crunch" and "Top Deck". MacRobertson's were looking to add a new product to their children's range. Initially styled as a chocolate mouse, Harry Melbourne felt that this would not sell, reasoning that women and children were afraid of mice and would dislike the product. Thus, Freddo was born. [2] Freddo Frogs became part of the Cadbury product range in 1967, when MacRobertson's were sold to Cadbury. In Australia, Freddo Frogs are manufactured in Ringwood, Victoria and Hobart. Since the success of Freddo, an alternate chocolate named Caramello Koala, also made by Cadbury, has been created. In June 2006, a scare over possible Salmonella contamination in some Cadbury products in the UK led to the recall of around a million Cadbury chocolate bars, including the standard Freddo. [3]. As a result of the contamination Cadbury was fined £1M, and ordered pay an additional £152,000 in costs. [4]. There was a minor outrage in early April 2006 in the UK when the price of a standard non-Caramel Freddo rose to 15p (an increase of 5p). In the UK, a caramel filled version is sold, with a yellow wrapper. This was formerly known as the Taz bar, featuring the Looney Tunes character. They disappeared for several years before returning under the Freddo image. Harry Melbourne died on 24 January 2007, aged 94, in a nursing home in Melbourne.[5][1]
