Toffee Crisp and Blue Ribbon bars can no longer be called chocolate after Nestle reformulated their recipes due to the rising cost of ingredients.
The Swiss group now describes the treats as “encased in a smooth milk chocolate flavored coating” rather than being covered in milk chocolate.
In the UK, to be described as milk chocolate a product must contain at least 20% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids, with each product dropped down one level after using greater amounts of cheaper vegetable fat.
Nestlé said the changes were necessary due to high input costs but had been “carefully developed and sensory tested”, with no plans to make changes to the recipes of other chocolate products.
A Nestlé spokesperson said it had “seen a significant increase in the cost of cocoa over the past years, making our products more expensive to manufacture. We will continue to be more efficient and absorb rising costs where possible”.
Toffee Crisp was created in 1963 by John Henderson, nephew of the man known as Toffee King John McIntosh.
Blue Ribbon, which takes its name from the prestigious transatlantic liner award, was launched in Scotland in 1936 by Gray Dunn & Co., a subsidiary of Rowntree’s, which later became part of Nestlé in 1988.
The price of chocolate has risen sharply as cocoa prices have soared following poor harvests in key producing regions of Ghana and Ivory Coast over the past three years due to extreme temperatures and unusual rainfall patterns triggered by the climate crisis.
In October, McVitie’s reduced the amount of cocoa in the Club and Penguin Bar recipes so much that they are now only “chocolate flavoured”, because parent company Pladis had decided to use cheaper substitutes for the main ingredient in chocolate.
Analysts at market research firm Worldpanel said on Tuesday that chocolate prices in Britain had risen 18.4% compared to last year.
<a href