If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit you can no longer join our Club or pick up a Penguin, as the lunchbox favourites have reduced the amount of cocoa in their recipe so much they are now only “chocolate flavour”.
The two snacks, both made by McVitie’s, changed their recipes earlier this year amid soaring cocoa prices – which have prompted manufacturers to try a number of different tactics to keep prices down.
Club and Penguin can no longer be described as chocolate biscuits as they contain more palm oil and shea oil than cocoa, as first reported by the trade journal The Grocer.
“We made some changes to McVitie’s Penguin and Club earlier this year, where we are using a chocolate flavour coating with cocoa mass, rather than a chocolate coating. Sensory testing with consumers shows the new coatings deliver the same great taste as the originals,” the McVitie’s owner, Pladis, said in a statement.
Club’s classic advertising slogan citing its chocolate content is no longer in use, replaced by: “If you like a lot of biscuit in your break, join our Club.”
The company already had other snacks that can only be described as “chocolate flavour”, including flavours of Mini BN and BN Mini Rolls.
“We’re committed to delivering great-tasting snacks while minimising the impact of rising costs on consumers, adjusting formulations only when necessary,” Pladis said.
Cocoa prices have soared after poor harvests in the key growing regions of Ghana and Ivory Coast over the past three years, amid extreme temperatures and unusual rainfall patterns driven by the climate crisis.
The added cost has prompted manufacturers to use a number of tactics, from making bars and biscuits smaller to reducing cocoa content in an effort to keep the prices paid by shoppers down.
Last year prices more than doubled and went on to hit a record of close to $11 (£8.20) a kilogram in January. However, in recent months they have eased back amid positive news about this year’s harvest and reports of lower demand as manufacturers and shoppers switch to alternatives or reduce consumption.
KitKat White and McVitie’s white digestives can no longer be marketed as “white chocolate” products as they do not contain a minimum of 20% cocoa butter – although these recipes changed before this year.
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The old favourite Wagon Wheel has long been described as “chocolate flavour” as its coating does not meet the level of cocoa to be described as chocolate.
A spokesperson for Nestlé, which makes KitKat, said: “We regularly review our recipes to balance quality, affordability, and sustainability. Like every manufacturer, we’ve seen significant increases in the cost of cocoa over the past years, making it much more expensive to manufacture our products.
“As always, we continue to be more efficient and absorb increasing costs where possible. To continue to offer shoppers great value, it is sometimes necessary to adjust recipes of some of our products. Retail pricing is at the discretion of individual retailers.
“The ‘coating’ description on KitKat White is accurate and compliant to describe the ingredients used in the recipe. There are currently no planned changes to KitKat product descriptors given existing recipes.”
