McVitie’s Penguin and Club bars are now labeled as “chocolate flavour” rather than chocolate due to rising cocoa prices, prompting the manufacturer, Pladis, to modify the ingredients. Historically marketed with the phrase, “If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our club,” both snacks have seen a reduction in cocoa content. This adjustment is a response to higher prices and limited supply stemming from poor harvests in key cocoa-producing nations like Ivory Coast and Ghana.
The change was initially reported by a trade publication, The Grocer. A Pladis spokesperson confirmed that the new formulation utilizes a chocolate flavour coating containing cocoa mass instead of traditional chocolate coating. They noted that consumer testing indicated the new coatings provided a similar taste experience to the previous versions. The company emphasized its commitment to maintaining quality while addressing rising costs and stated that recipe adjustments would only be made when necessary.
Confectionery historian Alex Hutchinson remarked that many producers are decreasing the cocoa content in their products in favor of less expensive alternatives such as palm oil or shea butter. According to UK regulations, milk chocolate must contain approximately 20% cocoa solids, which is below the EU requirement of 25%. Pladis’s recent change means that the cocoa-derived ingredients in the coatings for its Penguin and Club bars have dropped to below 20%.
Although cocoa prices have recently shown a slight decline, the past three years have witnessed significant increases, resulting in higher costs for products like Easter eggs. Hutchinson highlighted a drastic rise in cocoa prices, noting that the price per tonne surged from around $3,500 to $11,500 last year, leading to increased production costs for chocolate manufacturers.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86737yg3jlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss