Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband bars can no longer be called chocolate after manufacturer Nestlé changed their recipes.
To be described as milk chocolate in the UK, a product must have at least 20% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids, a level below which each product fell once more of the cheaper vegetable fat was used.
Nestlé said its reformulations were necessary due to higher input costs, but that they were “carefully developed and sensory tested” and that there were no plans to alter the recipes of other chocolate products.
Because many ingredients are expensive, such as cocoa and butter, more and more food companies have modified their recipes to use fewer expensive ingredients, as well as reducing portion sizes.
Nestlé now describes the treats as “enveloped in a soft milk chocolate flavored coating” rather than being covered in milk chocolate.
A Nestlé spokesperson said the food giant had seen “significant increases in the cost of cocoa in recent years, making it very expensive to manufacture our products. We continue to be more efficient and absorb rising costs wherever possible.”
The Grocer first reported on the change to the bars’ ingredients.
Nestlé is not alone in recent reformulations.
In October, McVitie’s Penguin and Club bars were rebranded as “chocolate flavour” because the amount of cocoa they contain was reduced after parent company Pladis decided to use cheaper alternatives to the main chocolate ingredient.
Although commodity cocoa prices have fallen slightly recently, a rise in costs over the past three years, driven by crop failures and drought, has driven up the cost of chocolate.
Changing the proportions of ingredients in the manufacture of foods and beverages due to cost is sometimes called “skimping.”
It has become more common in recent years as inflation has increased production costs.
In 2024 it was found that supermarkets had reduced the amount of more expensive ingredients, such as beef and chicken, in their ready meals.
