LOL, I don't begrudge you that tuna fish preference, but...I wasn't expecting it in a conversation about chocolate!!!!!
Posted on 12/29/2025 9:43:15 AM PST by Red Badger
When ingredients get expensive, definitions start changing.
If a label needs more words, something real was removed.
Corporations didn’t make chocolate worse by accident.
BRIEFING
Grant here. It really seems like slowly but surely all the foods we buy and consume are being quietly and covertly replaced with imposters. And what’s more, it’s literally happening right under our noses. The latest victim in this secret swap-out is chocolate, the decadent, velvety treat that we all eat by the pound. Basically, what looks like a harmless label change on your favorite chocolate bar is actually a signal of how corporations respond when real ingredients get too expensive to keep using. Let’s break it down.
Over the past few years, cacao prices have exploded, up more than 250 percent. It’s a massive increase, and that kind of spike forces companies to make a big decision. They can either raise prices and risk backlash or quietly change what’s inside the wrapper and hope no one notices. Not too surprisingly, many major brands chose the second option.
Now when you look at a label, more and more products now say “chocolate flavor” or “chocolatey coating” instead of just plain chocolate. In places like the UK, those products no longer meet the legal definition because the cocoa content has dropped too low. In the U.S. however, our looser standards have made the downgrade easier to hide.
SOURCE
Everyone needs to start checking chocolate products before purchasing
“This is the first time in human history corporations are selling you chocolate that can no longer legally be called chocolate.”
“To classify a product as chocolate, the UK requires at least 20-25% cocoa (only 10% in America). So many popular brands, including a slew of Nestle products, have quietly changed their labels to chocolate flavor coating.
Cacao prices have shot up 250% over the past 3 years, so Big Food has reformulated to more vegetable oils, sugars, and other fillers. Major brands like Hershey, Mondelez, and Barry Callebaut are also cutting back for less cocoa usage.
With input prices rising, there seems to be Either corporations continue to swap real ingredients for fillers to keep prices the same or content is kept similar but the price gets pushed to the consumer.
Watch out for this over the holidays and expect to pay a little more for properly sourced and formulated products.”
Everyone needs to start checking chocolate products before purchasing
“This is the first time in human history corporations are selling you chocolate that can no longer legally be called chocolate.”
“To classify a product as chocolate, the UK requires at least 20-25% cocoa… pic.twitter.com/LeE6tmG9QJ— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) December 23, 2025
This entire phenomenon is commonly referred to as “shrinkflation,” and it’s definitely not just limited to chocolate.
As a matter of fact, many snacks found in grocery aisles all across America are quietly reducing container volume big time, while packaging looks virtually identical. And, of course, the prices stay virtually the same.
However, there’s now some silver lining forming in the growing awareness around shrinkflation. Yep, brands know we’re now hip to their game, and they’re reversing course big time, now promising to start putting more chips back in the bag, so to speak.
SOURCE
Up until recently, companies got away with giving angry customers the silent treatment or by putting out some carefully worded statement in an attempt to get back in their good graces. Their statements would often read something like: We hear your frustration but c’mon, have some pity on us too. Oh, and by the way, we didn’t raise our prices as much as everyone is claiming so we’re not the bad guys here.
Then, after companies like McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King started seeing their revenue slide, they unveiled value menus and promos and, in some cases, promised to be more judicious about raising prices.
Still, complaints about shrinkflation and skimpflation seemingly went unaddressed by companies. That’s finally starting to change.
After fans of Whole Foods’ iconic Berry Chantilly Cake took to social media to rant about ingredient changes, the Amazon-owned grocery chain had an usually quick response, informing customers that the cake would soon revert to its original recipe.
But wait — it gets even better!
PepsiCo, the owner of Lay’s, Doritos, Tostitos and Ruffles chips, announced it will put more chips in some bags that had mysteriously gotten lighter. A PepsiCo spokesperson told my colleague Nathaniel Meyersohn that Tostitos and Ruffles “bonus” bags will contain 20% more chips for the same price as standard bags in select locations. The company is also adding two additional small chip bags to its 18-bag variety pack, the spokesperson said.
DEBRIEFING
The big picture here is that what’s happening to chocolate isn’t some quirky food industry footnote. It’s part of a much larger pattern most people now recognize as shrinkflation. When real ingredients get expensive, companies don’t just raise prices. They quietly reduce volume, swap inputs, or redefine the product altogether, all while keeping the packaging familiar enough that most consumers rarely notice.
Chocolate just happens to be one of the latest culprits. Or at least, the latest one we’re all starting to take note of. And that’s the key; we’re all thankfully becoming more aware and calling out these corrupt corporations on their games.
For a long time, companies could get away with it. PR teams were hired, and complaints were often brushed off with carefully worded statements about rising costs and shared sacrifice. Things like “We hear you” or “We’re doing our best.” But those scripts have run thin with the American people who are barely scraping by, living paycheck to paycheck most times.
NOW YOU KNOW
When costs rise, honesty is usually the first casualty.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
More of our world bifurcating into the masses vs. the privileged consumers.
Hell, I’m outraged, but also tl;dr
“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday […] it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it. [...] The eyeless crature at the other table swallowed it fanatically. passionately, with a furious desire to track down, denounce, and vaporize anyone who should suggest that last week the ration had been thirty grams. Syme, too-in some more double complex way, involving doublethink-Syme, swallow it. Was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory?”
― Orwell George, 1984
All of this cheating crap is primarily the result of allowing accountants and lawyers into managment positions.
Let em “count the beans” and provide “legal advice”, but NEVER allow em to manage anything. That is, if one wants to stay in business....LOL
Sad, really good chocolate is one of life’s great pleasures.
Poor quality chocolate is one of life’s big disappointments.
Buy what tastes good TO YOU.
Ha ha!
I can’t afford it!..................
Almost everything is cr@p nowadays.
Taco Bell food tastes good, but it’s not fit to be used as dog food.
Figured this had to be a UK story. Real chocolate disappeared from America in the 60s. It made minor return in the 90s, but still by default most of the “chocolate” in America isn’t.
“High Quality” vs Generic products:
Dark Chocolate; I have discovered that I don’t really like
Dark Chocolate candy in most circumstances. I find it bitter , salty and distressingly similar to Ex-Lax.
I much prefer the Milk Chocolate found in Nestle’s Crunch or
Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut bars.
Albacore Tuna: Albacore has a mild taste to it.Too mild for me. I prefer your basic Chicken O’ the Sea Tuna.
I want the fishy flavor, full and unapologetic.
My energy bars are chocolate flavored and I’m fine with that. If I want real chocolate, I think I’ll go dark chocolate.
I made a trip to Zurich Switzerland last year. I stopped at both the Sprüngli and Läderach stores, several times.
These places are a on a completely different plane for quality (and also price). It ruined me for chocolate.
Eating a Hershey bar after that is like eating brown wax.
All fast food went off my food list long ago. I can eat better, cheaper, safer and just as fast at a grocery store.
I’ve always liked Taco Bell; but you can probably make it healthier and better from scratch - and for the same cost or cheaper.
LOL, I don't begrudge you that tuna fish preference, but...I wasn't expecting it in a conversation about chocolate!!!!!
Don’t forget the marketing devils- they’re complicit in all of this.
I was eating a Fannie May “dark chocolate” as I started reading this thread. I got up and went to check the ingredients, but the outer packaging is probably already in the landfill. I will be checking out the ingredients in the future.
Watch out for “Soylent chocolate” in the future….
The chunk light is probably healthier mercury-wise - it’s lower on the food chain. We stopped buying Albacore long ago.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.