The bars no longer meet the UK legal thresholds for milk chocolate, which require at least 20% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids. Packaging now describes the products as “encased in a smooth milk chocolate flavour coating” rather than coated in milk chocolate. Nestlé says recipes were carefully developed and sensory tested, and it has no plans to change other chocolate products. The company attributes the move to significant increases in cocoa costs, as prices surged after poor harvests in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Industry peers have taken similar steps, with McVitie’s relabelling Penguin and Club bars as chocolate flavour in October as UK chocolate prices rose 18.4% year over year.
