Hershey.
Hershey’s — the chocolate company — appears to be in a world of hurt. Sales are down. And as I learned from Steve Dekorte, Hershey just dumped their board of directors, to be replaced by a new board “focused on restoring sales” (well, duh! what BoD wouldn’t be focused on increasing or, in the case of a beleaguered company, restoring sales?!?!?!).
Possibly, but not probably, coincidental, it seems that Hershey’s is a participant in and major funder of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association.
Now, the CMA lobbied — in conjunction with the Grocery Manufacturers Association — to have the FDA change the definition of “chocolate” from “containing 100% cocoa butter” to allowing the cocoa butter to be substituted with “hydrogenated or chemically-modified vegetable fats”.
Kirk Saville, a Hershey’s spokesman, said:
There are high-quality oils available which are equal to or better than cocoa butter in taste, nutrition, texture and function, and are preferred by consumers.
That reads: “Cocoa Butter Expensive. Corn oil cheap. Cheap is good. Customer won’t notice difference.”
I’m not a huge choco-holic, but even I must call Bullshit on this one. I have had what falls into the marketing category of “chocolate flavored” or “chocolaty” or “artificial chocolate essences added”. yuckYuckYuckYUCK! Lightly flavored sand, in the case of drink mixes and many “chocolate like” bars. Choco-like oily skid marks, in the case of the various “flavorings.
Now, I honestly have no idea if the FDA has changed the definition of “chocolate”. But I am not surprised that a company clearly focused on minimizing manufacturing costs with no regards to quality — even through lobbying to change the very definition of “chocolate” — is spiraling the bowl.
(Thank you to Garret Albright for providing links to the latest info regarding FDA’s potential redefinition of Chocolate.)
November 13th, 2007 at 2:46 am
The FDA has not yet decided on redefining “chocolate.” So the proposal is still on the table but it’s definitely not a for-sure thing. Check out these sites for more info:
http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/category/fda/
http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/
November 13th, 2007 at 4:37 am
Try googling for the EU chocolate directive to see that trying to find a common terminology for chocolate products across different cultures and food histories will result in a lot of nonsense. I’m not sure how this relates to hydrogenated oils but it does relate to the cocoa content.
Essentially what people in the UK will consider as milk chocolate is not considered to be proper chocolate in the rest of the continent because there’s so little cocoa in it. So the same product which may be called milk chocolate in the UK is just ‘family milk chocolate’ everywhere else because higher standards apply to the term ‘milk chocolate’ in the rest of the community.
Needless to say that most of the standard chocolate they sell in the UK _is_ utter crap, no matter what they call it.
It’s probably difficult to get these things right. But that’s what regulations come down to: in the end you’ll have to ignore the tons of ‘information’ and just buy the stuff that’s good.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Indeed. While Hershey has historically made a decent milk chocolate, moves like the proposal to redefine “chocolate” really set me off and have accelerated my efforts to find high quality chocolate. I’ve been pretty darned happy with Scharfenberger chocolate, but knowing that Hershey bought them some back in 2005, I was hoping that Hershey would leave them alone with all this garbage. If the parent Hershey screws up Scharfenberger through these redefinitions of chocolate, I will endeavor to remove any and all Hersheys products from our pantry.
November 14th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
The FDA and junk food companies are up to it again.
Most chocolate bars are so processed anyways. Go with raw cacao! It tastes so much better.
http://www.newstarget.com/021756.html
https://www.naturaw.com/raw_food/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=497
November 21st, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Hershey is doing poorly because they have committed the ultimate sin by closing longstanding profitable factories in Canada and the United States along with terminating 3000 + loyal longstanding employees and all this while they build a new factory in Mexico and give the Mexican economy these 3000 jobs. Also Hershey will be producing a substandard product made from milk substitutes instead of whole milk for importation to Canada and the US while retailing their products at the same price or higher rather than lowering them . The Hershey chocolate company obviously needs an enema because the people in charge are slowly but methodicly reducing this giant of a company to a mere minor player, what a terrible legacy these people are destroying…..
December 6th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Wow!!! Things are getting serious for Hershey Chocolate Company. I am from Pennsylvania and grew up just 20 minutes from Hershey in nearby Camp Hill (across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg), and all this is extremely disappointing to me. All the new substitutes in their products, new factory in Mexico of all places, and lately I just learned of a new product called Ice Breakers which looks like a container with little baggies (of mint powder) which could be used for illegal drugs after eating mints (the product even looks like it could have illegal drugs in it). What a bad influence for children. What in the world is The Hershey Corporation thinking about? The clean Company that it used to be seems to be slowly on the way out. What a crying shame. I love Hershey chocolate products with the ingredients just as they have always been, and I love to return home to Hershey when I go back to Pa. and visit the town and attractions. It is a beautiful town and the original “Real Factory” is still there even though you can no longer take a tour through the “Real Factory”. I hope this Company does not succumb to the Corporate greed like other Companies have. I hope Americans keep this Company and town alive in America. Hershey is an American Company. Go to Hershey sometime when you’re in the area and you can’t miss it for the chocolate aroma. MMMMMMMMMMMM GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 30th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I think it is a shame that they are not using their factory anymore to make chocolate. I used to love going to chocolate world as a kid.