Mon, 20 Oct 2025

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 Penguin and Club bars can no longer be called chocolate

The rising cost of cocoa has led to the manufacturers changing their recipe.

* McVitie's Penguin and Club bars are no longer made with chocolate, but instead use a "chocolate flavour" coating.
* Pladis, the owner of McVitie's, had to reduce the amount of cocoa in their products due to rising costs caused by poor harvests in West Africa.
* The change affects the UK market, where cocoa beans are sourced from countries such as Ivory Coast and Ghana.
* According to Pladis, sensory testing shows that the new coatings deliver the same taste as the originals.
* Confectionery historian Alex Hutchinson notes that many manufacturers are reducing the amount of cocoa ingredients in their products to save costs.
* The use of alternatives like palm oil or shea butter is becoming more common.
* UK regulations state that milk chocolate should contain at least 20% cocoa solids, but Pladis' new coating contains less than this amount.
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