Overview
- New formulations reduce cocoa mass and increase vegetable fats, pushing both products below the UK’s 20% cocoa and 20% milk solids thresholds for milk chocolate.
- Wrappers and online listings now describe the bars as having a “smooth milk chocolate flavour coating” rather than being covered in milk chocolate.
- Nestlé says the updates were carefully developed and sensory tested, are specific to these ranges, and there are no plans to make the same change across its other chocolate products.
- The shift follows similar moves by rivals, including Pladis relabelling Penguin and Club in October and earlier changes to KitKat White packaging this year.
- Cocoa supplies have tightened after disease and extreme weather in Ghana and Ivory Coast drove prices to multi‑year highs, and some consumers have posted immediate negative reactions to the taste.