Vegan version of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate reportedly in works

Cadbury may have to come up with a new name for its classic Dairy Milk chocolate bars, at least when it comes to a vegan version made without milk or other dairy products. 

U.K.-based Cadbury has reportedly been working on a dairy-free version of the chocolate bar for about two years. According to Britain's Daily Telegraph, a planned January rollout was put on ice as the company that owns Cadbury struggled to find a dairy substitute that works for consumers allergic to nuts, which are used in many if not most available non-dairy options. 

Reached for comment Monday, the company acknowledged growing demand for plant-based food and strongly implied a vegan offering is in the works. That said, there's no indication of when a new product might hit store shelves. 

"We are very aware of the rise in consumer interest towards vegan products. We have a brilliant R&D team who are focused entirely on new products and innovation to enable us to offer more great-tasting choices to consumers," a U.K.-based spokesperson for Cadbury owner Mondelēz International said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. "We only launch products when we have achieved the best taste and texture that consumers expect from Cadbury, and there are lots of exciting developments in the pipeline."

Introduced in 1905, Cadbury Dairy Milk is the result of a challenge won by George Cadbury Jr. to develop a chocolate bar with more milk than anything else on the market. He did so by adding a glass and a half of milk for every half pound of chocolate, according to the company's telling of its history. 

Cadbury Dairy Milk purists in the U.K. often sniff that U.S. versions of the Cadbury chocolate bars list sugar as the first ingredient. 

Mondelez is an American company that bills itself as one of the world's biggest sellers of snacks. It owns some 37 brands, which in addition to Cadbury include Philadelphia cream cheese and Ritz crackers.