It's Not Chocolate, It's Mockolate!

MayorBob.

Posted to Business on Mon Sep 22, 2008 at 02:00:42 PM EST (promoted by DEMachina). RSS.

For the longest time, when people thought chocolate, one of the names which would pop into the consciousness would be Hershey's.  The Pennsylvania business, which lent its name to the town where its headquarters is, manufactured all sorts of candies and treats which had one thing in common - chocolate.  But, betrayal and outrage are the only possible reactions to the distressing news coming out of the candy giant.  If you're a chocolate connoisseur, Hershey's chocolate isn't really chocolate.

The problem comes from having to cut corners and reduce costs.  Thus, the brains at Hershey's decided there were any number of oils which would substitute for natural ingredients just dandy.  So it went with the ingredients in Watchamacallits, Milk Duds, Mr. Goodbar, Krackle, and Kissables - they became lesser products in the eyes and on the palates of true chocolate lovers.  More importantly, they lost the right to call themselves milk chocolate candies, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  The FDA's regulations are clear on this - in order to call your product milk chocolate, you've got to use cocoa butter or fat in the mix.  No problem, according to Hershey's, we'll just change the labeling and "milk chocolate" became "chocolate candy" and what used to be "made with chocolate" now is "chocolatey."

Cybele May, who runs the candyblog, has been following the whole thing.  She's quite emphatic in her opinion: "I feel betrayed by Hershey's.  They're giving me an inferior product and not even telling me."  Her complaint is that the company simply and subtly changed the label without informing customers that the product no longer met the FDA requirements it had previously abided by.  The company told a reporter that customers still love their candy and there's really still all the ingredients in items like Kisses, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and the classic chocolate bar.  They also reverted to the original ingredients in Almond Joy bars after receiving customer complaints.  One candy industry observer said "commodities costs have been rising for some time now" with a real challenge for companies like Hershey's to "pass along these costs to consumers without hurting their profits?"  The FDA stands firm in its commitment - any chocolate candy being sold to the American public must conform to its regulations or it can't call itself chocolate.  And to think, just a few weeks ago they were throwing a party celebrating the 151st anniversary of Milton Hershey's birth.  One wonders if Milton might compare his company's fine words asserting its Business Integrity with the stealth relabeling of its products and say "yup, we do measure up."