London, Jul 25 (IANS): Chocolate giant Cadbury has been hit by a mass exodus, as 120 of a total of 170 executives have quit after the company's new American owner, Kraft Foods, proposed major changes in products, including the popular "Dairy Milk" bar.

Among those who have left the company are creative, design and marketing specialists, the Daily Mail reported.

Kraft is considering using powdered chocolate from Germany in some products and reducing the size of the popular Dairy Milk bar, the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Kraft took control of the 200-year-old British company in February this year after a bitterly fought 11.5-billion-pound takeover battle.

If the report is true, dozens of workers could lose their jobs in factories where Cadbury's raw materials are currently processed.

Cadbury, however, has strongly denied that such changes are being discussed.

"The idea that we would replace Cadbury milk chocolate recipe with Milka recipe is obviously nonsense," a Cadbury spokesman said.