United Kingdom candy manufacturer McVitie's has changed the recipe in two popular chocolate bars so they can no longer be classified as chocolate bars, as reported by the BBC.
"We made some changes to McVitie's Penguin and Club earlier this year, where we are using a chocolate-flavor coating with cocoa mass, rather than a chocolate coating," said a spokesperson for Pladis, the company that produces the products.
What's happening?
Cocoa prices have skyrocketed over the past three years, which prompted the decision to make the switch. Both the Penguin and Club bars are now labeled "chocolate flavor" after the cocoa content dipped below the European Union regulations of 25% in order to classify the product as chocolate. The bars now have less than 20% cocoa in their coating.
Chocolate-makers have experienced reduced profit margins, so something had to give in order for them to remain profitable.
Alex Hutchinson, a confectionery historian, said that Pladis is not the only confectionery company altering its ingredients in order to reduce costs. She said, per BBC: "During my lifetime, the cost of cocoa has stayed around $3,500 a tonne and last year it soared to $11,500."
Pladis conducted consumer taste testing and found that people thought the bars still tasted as good as the originals, but the general public's opinion is yet to be determined.
Why is the rise in cocoa bean prices important?
The U.K. gets its cocoa beans from West Africa, a region that has suffered severe droughts in recent years. Cocoa bean harvests have suffered as a result, so prices are much higher because of the limited supply.
Scientists have come to the consensus that the droughts in the region are a result of human-caused climate change.
What's being done about the cocoa bean harvests?
Governments and corporations are working to reduce pollution, which is a major cause of the warming of the planet. Some farmers are using cocoa pods as a sweetener in chocolate production to offset lower cocoa bean crop yields.
The public can help by purchasing chocolate from responsible companies that support environmental causes and are making an effort to reduce their carbon footprint.
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As of now, U.K. confectionery companies continue to make changes to their formulas or raise prices significantly. Hutchinson declared that "chocolate costs more than ever before."
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