Hershey’s Takes the Bite Out of Your Chocolate Bar

There is still more Breaking News involving consumer confidence and financial heart-ache.  No, it has nothing to do with more government bail-outs or the mortgage crisis.  The issue at hand leads to merely one question, “Do you know what is in your chocolate bar?”

It has recently come to the fore front that America’s Candy Company, Hershey’s, has messed with their formula and taken the cocoa butter out of their chocolate candy and substituted with…I warn you, this is frightening….they have substituted it with vegetable oil.

Cocoa butter is what gives chocolate that creamy, melt-in your mouth…hmmm, uh, not in your hands….flavor.  Due to rising costs they have chosen to change the recipe and use vegetable oil.  Now, they are currently keeping the formulas the same for candy that is pure chocolate such as Kisses, the traditional all chocolate Hershey’s bar as well as Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Almond Joy.  Now I have to add that they had changed the recipe for Almond Joy but there were so many consumer complaints that they had to change it back. But products like Mr. Goodbar, Krackel, Kissables and Milk Duds have been altered.

I suppose that Hershey’s thought this story would fly under the radar, but a lot of candy lovers out there have noticed a difference.  One in particular writes the Candy Blog and has documented her dismay as well as other consumers frustrations that their chocolate isn’t chocolate anymore.

There are several issues at play.  One is that cost has gone up, so Hershey’s was looking for a way to cut-back.  A lot of food producers have run into the same problems.  Most either raised the cost of their product or altered the size.  For example, due to high grain costs, your cereal box is smaller.  You may have not realized it, but yes, the ticket price is the same, but the amount you are getting for your money equals to 1-2 bowls less cereal per box.  Hershey’s didn’t want to raise the cost or make a smaller candy, so they messed with their recipe.  Which was an amazing decision in my eyes.  The recipe is what makes Hershey’s, well….Hershey’s.

The other issue was that the FDA says that if you say it is chocolate on the packaging then it has to contain cocoa butter. Yes, your chocolate has to have chocolate in it.  The Chocolate Lobby…yes, there is one…fought to change the law so that if they have vegetable oil in it the package can still read that it is chocolate.  The FDA has said…NO:

“Chocolate lovers need not be alarmed about the future of their favorite product,” the FDA said in a consumer update. “Cacao fat, as one of the signature characteristics of the product, will remain a principal component of standardized chocolate.”

Hershey’s has changed the packaging on the candy it affects to read “chocolatey”, “made with chocolate”, “chocolate candy”.  It also says in the ingredients, “vegetable oil”.  The trick is the packaging looks the same and unless you were looking for it, you wouldn’t notice it. 

Now the Today Show did a story on this subject and actually did a test taste.  It ended up that it was a 50/50 split.  Half of the taste testers noticed the difference.  But across the board, people all felt cheated and that Hershey’s was trying to deceive them in some way.

So, as you are preparing for Halloween this year, you may want to double-check what exactly is in that candy you are buying.

I personally think that they should have just raised the cost.  I know that the shirts at Hershey’s probably thought that candy is a luxury and that people would just stop buying it or not buy as much if the price went up.  But, I feel that everyone has gotten used to the rising costs at the grocery store, that candy may be a luxury but it is an indulgence that so many don’t want to give up, and that if the American public feels like you are trying to cheat them, that will be what costs you in the end.

What do you think?  Would you pay more for your candy bar?  Do you think that Hershey’s was trying to get away with deceiving the public?