A family confectionary business has ruffled feathers in New Zealand after falsely claiming their Pineapple Chews treat was made in-house.

Instead, according to Stuff, Potter Brothers admitted its "handmade" pineapple treats were instead recoated pineapple lumps.

The chocolate-coated pineapples have been an iconic symbol of Kiwi life and were recently crowned the best in a competitive taste test.

The judges were so impressed with the chocolate it even beat out the long-running leader Pascall Pineapple Lumps… how ironic.

After Potter Brothers took the crown, a local resident decided it was time to "expose" the company.

Originally making the discovery two years ago, Courtnay Adele decided it was time to re-share her findings.

"After Potter Brothers were ranked at number one, I went and got a new bag to see if they were still doing the same thing I had discovered years earlier, Courtnay told news.com.au.

"The bag I got was definitely still recoated pineapple lumps, so I commented on the original story, and it started getting some traction."

This time, Adele posted her original video to TikTok, where it quickly gained traction.

"Can you see that? How there's like a layer of chocolate over another layer of chocolate," she explained in the video, biting off some of the chocolate.

"No way, there cannot be just like a normal pineapple lump that this company has just covered with their own chocolate.

"How dare they do this to our national lolly.

"The bottom has that hatched kind of texture like it was made in a big old factory.

It's safe to say Kiwis in the comments were not happy.

"OMFG....I have wasted money on these!!" one user angrily wrote.

"I don't even eat pineapple lumps, but now I have an issue with them too!! Potter Brothers better answer some questions!!!" said another.

Potter Brothers have since changed some of its messaging on its website, replacing the word "handcrafted" with "small batch".