Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband can’t be called chocolate any more

Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband bars can no longer be called chocolate after the manufacturer Nestle changed its recipes.

In the UK, for a product to be described as milk chocolate it must contain at least 20% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids; Each product falls below this level when higher amounts of cheaper vegetable oil are used.

Nestle said reformulations were needed due to high input costs but had been “carefully developed and sensory tested” and had no plans to make changes to recipes for its other chocolate products.

As the cost of many ingredients, such as cocoa and butter, increased, food companies changed their recipes to use less expensive ingredients and reduced portion sizes.

Instead of being covered in milk chocolate, Nestle now describes the treats as “covered in a smooth coating of milk chocolate flavor.”

A spokesperson for Nestle said the food giant had “seen significant increases in the cost of cocoa in recent years, making our products much more expensive to produce. We continue to become more efficient and offset rising costs where possible.”

The content of the bars has been changed First reported by The Grocer.

Nestle is not alone in the latest reformulations.

In October, McVitie’s Penguin and Club bars began being labeled as “chocolate flavor” because the amount of cocoa they contained was reduced after parent company Pladis opted to use cheaper alternatives to the main ingredient in chocolate.

Although cocoa commodity prices have fallen slightly recently, an increase in costs due to poor harvests and drought over the past three years has increased the cost of chocolate.

Changing ingredient ratios due to cost in food and beverage production is sometimes referred to as “underinflation.”

It has become more common in recent years as inflation increases producer costs.

Supermarkets were found to reduce the amount of more expensive ingredients in 2024, such as: Beef and chicken in ready meals.