Hershey to change chocolate in some disputed Reese’s items
It is also changing the Kit Kat recipe for a creamier-tasting chocolate
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HERSHEY will change the chocolate in a small portion of its Reese’s and Hershey’s products, the latest twist in a squabble over its ingredients initiated by a grandson of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup creator.
The company said it will swap out a chocolate compound coating as part of a return to using “classic milk and dark chocolate recipes” in all Reese’s and Hershey’s products by 2027. The shift to pure chocolate ingredients will affect less than 3 per cent of Reese’s products and a tiny sliver of Hershey’s products.
Hershey has been under fire from Brad Reese, who has accused the company of cutting corners on ingredients.
The grandson of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup inventor H.B. Reese has criticised Hershey for swapping in “compound coatings” for milk chocolate and using “peanut-butter-style cremes” instead of peanut butter.
“Today, Reese’s identity is being rewritten, not by storytellers, but by formulation decisions,” he wrote in a February open letter to the company.
Hershey chief executive officer Kirk Tanner said that he made the decision to change the ingredients shortly after he took the role last summer and well before Brad Reese aired his complaints.
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“Right when I started with the company, we did a deep dive across our portfolio,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.
“We’re going to make some small investments to really align the portfolio to what the brand stands for,” Tanner said. “That consistency is important across the brand.”
Classic Hershey’s chocolate bars and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups already use pure milk and dark chocolate. The products that will be changed include some mini Reese’s cups and shapes, the Reese’s Fast Break candy bar and certain foil-wrapped Reese’s shapes.
Hershey is also changing the Kit Kat recipe for a creamier-tasting chocolate and is on track to remove all artificial colours from its products by the end of 2027.
Tanner said its naturally coloured candies will remain vibrant, including Reese’s Pieces and Jolly Ranchers.
“The availability of the colours and access to the natural colours is in a much better place today,” he said. BLOOMBERG
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