Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband no longer called ‘chocolate’ after recipe change | Chocolate
Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband bars can no longer be called chocolate after Nestlé reformulated their recipe due to the rising cost of ingredients.
The Swiss conglomerate now describes the treats as “covered in a smooth coating of milk chocolate flavor” rather than being covered in milk chocolate.
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.
Nestlé said the changes were necessary due to high input costs but that they had been “carefully developed and sensory tested”, adding that it had no plans to make changes to the recipes of its other chocolate products.
A spokesperson for Nestlé said: “We have 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.”
Toffee Crisp was created in 1963 by John Henderson, the great-nephew of the man known as confectionery tycoon John Mackintosh.
Blue Riband, named after the prestigious transatlantic cruise ship award, was launched in 1936 by Gray Dunn & Co of Scotland, a subsidiary of Rowntree, and later became part of Nestlé in 1988.
The cost of chocolate has risen sharply over the past three years in key growing regions of Ghana and Ivory Coast as cocoa prices have soared following poor harvests due to extreme temperatures and unusual rainfall patterns caused by the climate crisis.
In October, McVitie reduced the amount of cocoa in the recipes for its Club and Penguin bars so much that they are now just “chocolate flavor” after parent company Pladis opted to use cheaper alternatives to the main ingredient in chocolate.
Chocolate prices in the UK are up 18.4% compared to last year, analysts at market research firm Worldpanel said on Tuesday.
