Soaring cocoa prices – driven by the climate crisis – along with higher production costs and inflation have forced manufacturers to slash chocolate content and shrink product sizes
A number of popular British chocolate snacks have lost their legal “chocolate” status over low cocoa content, while other treats have shrunk in size and shot up in price.
Club and Penguin bars are now described as “chocolate flavour” after soaring cocoa prices forced Pladis, the parent company of McVitie’s, to tweak their recipes earlier this year, with the result that the classics contain more palm and shea oils than actual cocoa. Club’s advertising slogan has accordingly changed from “If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our Club” to the blander “If you like a lot of biscuit in your break, join our Club.”
The news comes as a number of manufacturers roll out similar tactics – from cutting back on cocoa to quietly shrinking the size of sweet treats’ boxes – in a bid to keep retail prices down.
Poor harvests in key West African cocoa-growing regions, including Ghana and the Ivory Coast, have helped drive up chocolate prices in recent years. Extreme weather events linked to the worsening climate crisis – from high temperatures to unusual rainfall patterns – have hit cocoa yields. The situation has been worsened by crop diseases spreading through farms, causing plants to rot and pushing up costs across the supply chain.
Prices hit a record high of nearly £8.20 a kilogram in January, after doubling last year. Although they have eased slightly in recent months amid forecasts of a better harvest and lower demand, many popular snacks have already been affected – with manufacturers forced under UK rules to change how products are marketed once they fall below the minimum 20 per cent cocoa butter requirement.
KitKat Chunky White
While KitKat Chunky White still contains cocoa-derived ingredients, including powder, butter and mass, it cannot be classed as “white chocolate” product due to its low cocoa butter content. Its recipe was changed before this year, and KitKat White is now described by Nestlé as “Crispy wafer finger covered with a white coating (68%)”.
The Swiss-headquartered confectionery giant recently confirmed it will axe 16,000 jobs – including 12,000 white-collar professionals and 4,000 in its manufacturing and supply chain – over the next two years to cut costs and boost sales.
McVitie’s White Digestives
Similarly, McVitie’s White Digestives can no longer be marketed as white chocolate. Following a recipe change earlier this year, the biscuits no longer contain any cocoa solids or cocoa butter, and are now made up of a vegetable fat blend of palm, shea and sal oils, The Grocer revealed. The product’s packaging was updated in March, with “white chocolate” replaced simply by “white”.
Mini BN and BN Mini Rolls
Prior to news about changes to Club and Penguin bars, Pladis had changed the recipes of McVitie’s Mini BN and BN Mini Rolls and updated how the products are marketed to reflect their reduced cocoa content.
Mini BNs are advertised as “deliciously light, golden-baked biscuits sandwiched together with a yummy chocolate flavour filling”, while BN Mini Rolls are described as “delicious, light vanilla sponge cake, rolled around a yummy chocolate flavoured filling and coated with milk chocolate”.
Other sweet treats cost more
Meanwhile, other chocolate favourites such as Quality Street, Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Toblerone and Cadbury Roses have all shrunk in size while costing more, according to The Grocer.
Quality Street has decreased by 8.3 per cent from 600g to 550g, yet its pre-promotional price at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons has risen by 16.7 per cent year-on-year, the outlet revealed.
Cadbury Roses’ 750g tin has been replaced with a 700g version at Morrisons, marking a 6.7 per cent reduction, while its price has jumped by 17.9 per cent – from £14 to £16.50.
Terry’s Chocolate Orange has also shrunk by 7.6 per cent in size, but in Tesco the treat has suffered a 33 per cent price hike, followed by 28.3 per cent in Sainsbury’s and by 25 per cent in Morrisons.
Large Toblerone bars are down by 5.6 per cent, from 360g to 340g, yet prices have risen by 16.7 per cent to £7 in Morrisons and by 12.5 per cent to £6.75 in Sainsbury’s. Tesco has, however, kept its price unchanged at £6.
