Chocolate bars are no longer actually chocolate
Chocolate bars are no longer actually chocolate
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Discussion

Cloudy147

Original Poster:

3,159 posts

212 months

Wednesday 10th December 2025
quotequote all
I’m a total chocolate fanatic, but I noticed a while ago that I was enjoying Cadburys far less and it just didn’t taste right. I saw a video online explaining that the chocolate content had been reduced, replaced with sugar and palm oil. Haven’t eaten any since. They can still be called chocolate though as they scrape through with the minimum required amount of cocoa and milk, in amongst the other ste.

Not wanting to be out-done, other manufacturers have lowered the bar further, and as a result they are no longer allowed to be called chocolate bars, but instead are now “chocolate flavoured” bars.

Toffee crisp and blue riband are following Penguin and Club in their race to the bottom of the st heap. frown

A sorry state of affairs.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79x7q325p3o.a...


paulw123

4,915 posts

219 months

Wednesday 10th December 2025
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Customer gave me a blue riband with a coffee today, it was awful.

Terminator X

20,599 posts

233 months

Wednesday 10th December 2025
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Creme eggs. Used to love them but they are truly awful now.

TX.

craigjm

21,459 posts

229 months

Wednesday 10th December 2025
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Cadburys chocolate is awful these days it just tastes greasy from all the oil

Hippea

3,860 posts

98 months

Wednesday 10th December 2025
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Literally everything has been ruined, why are we all just putting up with reduced quality and higher prices?

Ryyy

2,046 posts

64 months

Wednesday 10th December 2025
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Now it might just be me and a bit placebo but if you can get Cadburys in the dull purple wrapper and not the glossy one it tastes miles better yum

The small single bars btw, not the "big" ones.

butchstewie

67,617 posts

239 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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Twirls too.

Had one the other day and it was just this weird slimy gloop.

I don't actually mind paying for good chocolate. I just wish there was a bit more transparency about what goes into cheaper "chocolate".

Evolved

4,079 posts

216 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
quotequote all
butchstewie said:
Twirls too.

Had one the other day and it was just this weird slimy gloop.

I don't actually mind paying for good chocolate. I just wish there was a bit more transparency about what goes into cheaper "chocolate".
It the same with all Cadbury’s product. I gave ip buying it ages ago. Tastes rubbish, is too greasy and is overpriced.

Edited by Evolved on Thursday 11th December 08:06

butchstewie

67,617 posts

239 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
quotequote all
Yeah I wonder how much of it is expectations.

I'm fortunate financially and I get it lots of people aren't but I do wonder if the answer to that is to keep trying to stock B&M with "brands" that get increasingly crap or do you just charge a bit more for a quality product?

I can only assume the brands marketing people have done their homework and the former is more profitable than the latter.

I do wonder at what long term cost though.

Go to Bourneville and it's a lovely place and I'm really not sure this is what they had in mind.

Portofino

5,345 posts

220 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
quotequote all
Hippea said:
Literally everything has been ruined, why are we all just putting up with reduced quality and higher prices?
Agree. Quality for nearly everything has gone down while prices have gone up. Fruit is another example, you buy what looks like decent oranges, yet a few days later they are awful dry things.

Earthdweller

19,385 posts

155 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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Filled up with petrol a couple of days ago and thought I'd grab a Mars bar .... it was more expensive than a litre of petrol !!

Simple pleasure ruined

glazbagun

15,357 posts

226 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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I stopped buying chocolate years ago but funnily enough had a Marks & Spencers "mountain bar" (knock-off toblerone) which I quite enjoyed. Was £2.50 for 100g though, so likely won't be troubling Toffee Crisp any time soon.

Wills2

29,648 posts

204 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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It's all getting a bit 1970's "chocolate flavour" "orange flavour" "coffee flavour" perfect that we have a Labour government in charge as we gently drift back to those days and become the sick man of Europe once again with out of control spending/unions.



Timothy Bucktu

16,952 posts

229 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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My Wife makes little chocolate treats that I swear are one of the most addictive substances known to Man!
Absolutely delicious, cheap, easy to make and almost certainly classified as a banned substance in 2025!
Just a few left...

butchstewie

67,617 posts

239 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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That's kind of the point though.

I could go into town right now and there are places that will sell handmade proper quality chocolate and the stuff your wife makes will no doubt be delicious if it's made with quality ingredients.

It just costs a bit more than a £2 pack of Twirls does.

Greenmantle

2,162 posts

137 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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I'm of an age that I remember Cadbury Diary Milk portions were chunky squares. (70's and 80's).
For a good ten years all chocolate (Cadbury, Nestle, Mars) has been truly awful.
Unfortunately I cannot get on with the European stuff so like the poster above I am now making chocolate from scratch.
It is the only way to avoid the inevitable disappointment.

RemarkLima

2,840 posts

241 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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What's the recipe?

On a similar vein, I often make my own bread, dead easy, quite therapeutic and tastes amazing.

If chocolate is as easy to make, then maybe it's the way to go?

S600BSB

8,369 posts

135 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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Cadbury’s chocolate has always been poor IMHO. Stick to the good stuff - say minimum 70% cocoa.

Mark V GTD

3,159 posts

153 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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Hmm, I love Cadbury’s chocolate ( OK ‘chocolate flavour bars’ or whatnot) and have not detected any change in the taste or texture for years (the price is another matter). Maybe I just have an awful sense of taste.

croyde

26,354 posts

259 months

Thursday 11th December 2025
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Picnic bars used to look like a chunky healthy poo but have now turned into a single Twix size stick, for £1.20 at Sainsburys.