Nestle admits the classic Kiwi hot drink Milo now tastes different but says it was "improved" for health benefits.

Milo's recipe has prompted howls of outrage from customers who say it's lost its chocolate taste and is "disgusting".

A Facebook page, "Change Milo Back to the old recipe", was set up after parent company Nestleadded vitamin D, B3, B6, B12 and took out vitamins A, B1 and magnesium and vanilla flavouring.

123RF Wait a minute...something's not right with this here Milo.

Commenters on the page said the "little bit of chocolate it had is all gone" and one woman, Niki Wright Jackman said "Omg knew i wasnt going mad - going to return my tin for a refund its disgusting".

Nestle's Australian-based external relations manager Mary Stuart said the company had made "a number of small changes to Milo to improve it".

She said a glass of Milo with trim milk now earned 4.5 stars using the new Health Star Rating system - an Australian health rating system that the then Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye signed New Zealand up to last year.



Along with taking out the vanilla flavour, Stuart said Milo had also moved to "sustainably sourced cocoa" and "sustainably sourced palm oil".



"These changes haven't affected the flavour, but does mean that we now have a more sustainably produced product, meeting the demands of consumers and reducing our impact."



Stuart said there had been a "slight shift in flavour" though Milo was still "based on the four main ingredients - milk powder, malt barley, sugar and cocoa - that have been at its core for over 80 years".



"We understand that many people don't like changes being made to favourite products, so this change was not made lightly."



Campaign organiser Taryn Ibell said she opened a new packet last week and it tasted "horrible - absolutely disgusting".



The new flavour was "very very malty", she said.



"You might as well just drink malt."



The company had also taken out vanilla flavour and as a result it tasted less chocolatey, she said.



Ibell was motivated to act after her three year old child refused to drink the new formula. "Having a hot milky Milo was the only way of getting milk into her and she won't drink the new stuff," Ibell said.



She and her online group had worked out that any Milo with a best before date before August 2016 was old formulation, but anything dated later was the new Milo.



Other people have complained on the Milo page with the company responding that they had changed the formula to "help active kids perform at their best!" but it was "still a great tasting combination...and still has a great chocolate taste we know everyone loves".



Commenters disagreed saying the new taste was "rank" and the difference between the two was "obvious".