Chocolate Is Getting Worse

A familiar complaint - that Reese’s and other mass-market chocolate no longer taste as they once did - turns into an investigation of recipe changes, cost-cutting, and what legally counts as chocolate. The spark is Brad Reese, grandson of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups inventor H. B. Reese, who publicly accused Hershey of replacing cocoa-butter chocolate and real peanut butter in some products with cheaper vegetable-oil-based substitutes. Hershey said the classic cup’s recipe was unchanged, while acknowledging adjustments elsewhere; it also said it would return products made with compound coatings to older formulas by 2027. Reports of changed ingredients in products including Mr. Goodbar, Rolo, and Almond Joy add to consumers’ suspicion that the changes extend beyond holiday candy.

The investigation explains the distinction: conventional chocolate is made from cocoa beans, while compound coating removes cocoa butter and replaces it with vegetable oil. Under U.S. rules, even a small amount of non-cocoa-butter fat disqualifies a product from being labeled chocolate, so packaging may instead say “chocolate candy” or “chocolate coating.” A 2007 effort by Hershey and industry groups to loosen that standard was defeated after chocolatier Gary Guittard organized public opposition. The account frames the dispute as part of a wider sense that products are being degraded in the name of efficiency and profit, while showing that consumers may struggle to recognize what has changed - or to separate altered recipes from changing tastes.