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The Guardian: ‘I took two bites and had to spit it out’: candy makers are phasing out real cocoa in chocolate

"...The volatile cocoa market is, in fact, a major factor in chocolate pricing. Since 2020, the climate crisis has led to a cycle of droughts and floods in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, which, combined, produce 70% of the world’s chocolate. This led to diseases that destroyed the cocoa plantations and decimated the cocoa supply, says Alexis Villacis, an economist at the Ohio State University who studies the chocolate industry. ..."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/11/reeses-hersey-chocolate-candy-cocoa

#climateemergency #agriculture #chocolate #food

‘I took two bites and had to spit it out’: candy makers are phasing out real cocoa in chocolate

Due to the volatile cocoa market, companies like Hershey are using replacement ingredients such as sugar, oil, milk and nuts

The Guardian

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Michael Busch Mar 11

@ai6yr

I have lately still been able to get real cocoa, but all of the "white chocolate" sold by local vendors is actually palm kernel oil rather than cocoa butter.

Today in the climate crisis.

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AI6YR Ben Mar 11

@michael_w_busch Oh wow, I've got to watch that, palm oil makes me break out and feel terrible.

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Michael Busch Mar 11

@ai6yr

The better vendors have been labeling the substitution as "white baking chips".

But I have gotten used to carefully checking the labels.

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me_valentijn Mar 11

@ai6yr
Sounds like Hershey is still using milk chocolate in the normal peanut butter cups, and have switched to fake crap for seasonal items which people would assume use the same ingredients.

It's bait and switch, and they don't care if it kills demand because they're counting on holiday hype driving sales in a cornered market 🙄

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