Where did the myth about Cadbury changing their recipe come from?

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West-Rich-5145@reddit

Something has definitely changed with their chocolate or my tongue. I feel like it’s the former though because it’s not always the same. Big chunk bars seem to still taste nice which I’ve only seen available as the 1kg around Christmas so I bought several, nearly gone now… The other crap offerings taste like hazelnuts to me now, especially the thin bars. I thought the fruit and nut Easter egg someone bought me had gone off as it tasted like I imagine plants do, I’ve tried it a few times on different days too because I thought it must be me. In conclusion, I buy mars chocolate now :)

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redunculuspanda@reddit

You said your self that the recipe has changed. So it’s not a myth.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

And also noted that it hasn't changed in any way people would notice.

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n0p_sled@reddit

Have a look at my comment edit - cocoa content has dropped from 26% to 20%, which is the minimum amount for it to legally qualify as milk chocolate.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

What's your source on that.

I'll wait....

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Last_Struggle_8195@reddit

This is how you can tell if its the original recipe as when they were sold they had to keep the british factories running exactly the same so they built ones outside of the uk and changed their recipes

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Gemini is not a source, that's just repeating stuff people have said on social media...

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Last_Struggle_8195@reddit

But also as I said in the comment your replying to, its the factories batch that will tell you if its properly made or not Gemini was to get the batch only, its whete its produced uou have to look for and thats how you find out, why not go try the foreign ones and the British ones and see if you can taste the difference

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Last_Struggle_8195@reddit

No thats the batch for the factories its not saying they are produced different its just saying the batch number is from these factories

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n0p_sled@reddit

The sources are in my other comment.

A BBC article from 2013 and the current Cadbury website.

Hope you didn't have to wait too long

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

That doesn't say cocoa solid content has dropped, but I see your point.

Why are Cadbury outright denying this then?

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n0p_sled@reddit

I have no idea, beyond the obvious marketing department massaging of the truth.

I think they'd be better off by coming clean and going back to the original recipe, even if it means paying a bit more.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

They'd have a chance to do a very clever Rory Sutherland style marketing trick here -

Either claim the recipe has "gone back to the original" but keep it exactly the same, and see the public reaction (I bet loads of people would be saying how much better it is), or

Change the recipe "back" by adding more cocoa solids or whatever, put the price up, but say nothing, and see what public reaction is like then.

You could even run two bars, one for each - Dairy Milk, and Dairy Milk Classic. But as we know from New Coke that's a massive risk.

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IrishShee@reddit

Do you profit from cadburys or something?

You seem really against the people saying they can notice the change for some reason

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

It's more that it's a good example of a mass consensus being formed with a total lack of evidence in favour and evidence to suggest it isn't true. It's a trivial example that is a good insight into more serious stuff.

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Last_Struggle_8195@reddit

You've got to think, americans also post on reddit and theire may have gotten worse and they could be posting about it

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LucasWesf00@reddit

Or sell a “Cadbury Classic” with a higher price. Coca-Cola Classic proved people are willing to pay more for the original formula.

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ml13l2r@reddit

BBC article from 2025:
Mondelez told the BBC that it had not reduced the cocoa or dairy content of Cadbury Dairy Milk, nor had it increased its use of vegetable oils.

"Our Cadbury Dairy Milk products continue to be made with the same delicious recipes that consumers know and love," its spokesperson said. "The cocoa content has not changed for many years."

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Particular-Plan-319@reddit

Yes and Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. 😂

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noodlyman@reddit

Here is a 1970s wrapper that says 21% cocoa. https://www.threads.com/@alandapre/post/DUKrFONDICT

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n0p_sled@reddit

Strangely enough, Amazon appear to be selling a version that claims 25% minimum cocoa solids

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cadbury-Dairy-Milk-Single-Pack/dp/B009JS355Q?th=1

"Ingredients

Sugar, MILK, Cocoa Butter, Coco Mass, Skimmed MILK Powder, Whey Permeate Powder (from MILK), Vegetable Fats (Palm, Shea), MILK Fat, Modified Starches (Maize, Tapioca), emulsifiers (E442, E476), flavourings, maltodexatrin, colours (anthocyanins, beetroot red, paprika extract, carotenes). MILK CHOCOLATE : MILK SOLIDS 14% MINIMUM. COCOA SOLIDS 25% MINIMUM. CONTAINS VEGETABLE FATS IN ADDITION TO COCOA BUTTER.

May contain: Tree Nuts, Wheat"

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Particular-Plan-319@reddit

There's a reason why the Royal stamp of approval got dropped on Cadburys. 😂 Quality has gone down to the point the royals do not want it.

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redunculuspanda@reddit

The comments here say otherwise.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

The downvotes however back up my point - this is mass groupthink.

It's actually extremely interesting.

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235iguy@reddit

Literally everyone saying it has changed and tastes fucking nasty.

Are you smoking it instead of eating it?!

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

"Literally everyone saying it has changed and tastes fucking nasty" with zero evidence and in total opposition to an official statement from the manufacturer.

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melancholyy-scorpio@reddit

The evidence is our taste omg what are you not understanding?

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Taste is not evidence though is it? I didn't think that was a difficult concept.

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Last_Struggle_8195@reddit

It is if everyone tastes the difference thats massive evidence if a few people thought it was awful there wouldn't be anyone saying anything but with it being everyone tasting it and saying it's different and awful that is evidence, you'd be saying surveys arent evidence that a product is good because it's only people opinions ..but the oil change can make it change flavour but also americans bout the company so trust is also down

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

It's not "everyone".
Lots of people believe in all kinds of things without any evidence to back it up.

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Diligent_Pangolin_47@reddit

I think taste is evidence when you’re talking about food.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Which sums up the entire problem highlighted by this thread. It's a fantastic analogy for all kinds of things in life. It's how we end up with certain people in power who shouldn't be, as a prime example.

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SneezlesForNeezles@reddit

Taste is evidence when multiple people are confirming the difference.

I work in clinical trials and if we got multiple adverse event reports of Dysgeusia (altered taste), then this would be highlighted as a potential adverse reaction. Whilst this would then be assessed as part of the statistical analysis, the actual evidence of the adverse reaction is the individuals stating that their sense of taste has changed. If there's a small number and alternative explanations, maybe it stays an event. If there's a large number and appears linked, then that adverse reaction is included in the drug information.

In this case, large numbers of people - across all walks of life and certainly not just on Reddit - have confirmed that Cadbury's chocolate tastes different to them. This is evidence that something changed in the recipe that impacted the taste of the product. Maybe it's the palm oil, maybe it's the proportions of ingredients that have changed. But the evidence is that a significant number of people have noted it tastes different.

It's also worth noting that Cadbury's chocolate doesn't melt the same now. It used to be the go to for my foster mother when baking, but it's now a subpar baking ingredient. So fundamentally something has changed enough to impact how it melts and is it any surprise that this may have had an impact on the taste?

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nali_cow@reddit

So if multiple people confirm that they remember [insert popular Mandela effect here], that becomes evidence for multiverse shenanigans?

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IrishShee@reddit

A company who stand to make millions from cheapening its ingredient list vs multiverses existing… hmm wonder which is more likely

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Ok-Personality-6630@reddit

Seems to be for UFOs 😅

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ayuntamient0@reddit

I love how op failed to reply to your excellent post! All hail a sufficiently large n.

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Bleauyy@reddit

Flip the answers if replies were "i think its the same /tastes great, would you also ask for evidence or not because it confirms a bias

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Yes, same rules apply.

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sleeplessinengland@reddit

Oh the manufacturer said it hasn't changed. Wow.

Israel also say they're not committing a genocide, sometimes you just can see things with your own eyes but in this instance , taste.

Sheep

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Cadbury is not Isreal.

And the "sheep" thing makes no sense - people are blindly following a rumour without any evidence. People who say it hasn't changed are following the manufacturer, the FSA, and the list of ingredients.

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Last_Struggle_8195@reddit

They would say that so we carry on giving them money wouldnt they, if everyone but you thinks it's awful then maybe covid got uour taste buds and you think it tastes the same but it really doesnt taste the same the clinical tester who commented is correct

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redunculuspanda@reddit

It sounds like you have decided you can’t taste any difference and their for others can’t.

Not everyone is you. Everyone experiences the world slightly differently. Oils all have a different taste. Just because you can’t taste the difference doesn’t mean others can’t.

This isn’t group think. It’s objectively reality. Lean and move on. It’s ok to have a hypothesis and find out what’s wrong are wrong.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

I don't really eat it, used to smoke, and had covid quite badly, so my opinion is irrelevant anyway, as it would be in any case.

My point is it isn't "objective" reality. Do you know what objective means?

There is no evidence for any change in taste, Cadbury outright deny it.

Youtubers "reverse engineer" foods and drinks all the time - people have chemically recreated Coca Cola and KFC's secret herbs and spice mix. Funny how no one has ever done that.

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redunculuspanda@reddit

It is objectively realty that the recipe has changed. Not a, myth. Reality.

Do you agree that if you change a recipe - any recipe - it’s possible that the finished item might taste different?

Do you know what’s one thing that has a massive impact on the taste when cooking? Oil.

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Last_Struggle_8195@reddit

I agree .. cook an egg in olive oil then cook an egg in butter and tell me it tastes the same @OP

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noodlyman@reddit

I agree. People also keep saying they've reduced the cocoa content, but all the evidence is that they have not, at least not for several decades.

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Invisible_Stalkbug@reddit

Feel free to start adding small amounts of different ingredients to your own foods if you're so confident being a small quantity makes it unnoticeable

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

I regularly use different types of oil when cooking and it makes no difference, no.

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IrishShee@reddit

Some oils definitely taste different eg rapeseed oil and coconut oil

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Invisible_Stalkbug@reddit

Sure. I suppose you could say the same about spices that people add to recipes.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

You're being disingenuous I realise, but yes, this would be like making a huge pot of bolognaise to feed ten people, and putting a teaspoon of paprika in it. No one would be able to tell.

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Infinite-One8015@reddit

I have noticed it doesn’t taste the same anymore

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ForeverAwkward6492@reddit

So why do they notice? Cadburys is horrible now. Why? If nothing has changed, why does it taste different and takes longer to melt and feel waxy?

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northkerry@reddit

Uk cadbury always did, Irish Cadbury was always creamier. Moved from Ireland to uk in 2005 and was shocked how different, not creamy, Cadbury was there. Unfortunately Irish Cadbury is now producing less and less and we now get mostly uk except for the classic irish bars https://ebay.us/m/2LuZmd

Also twirls, wispas and starbars too

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kevlarus80@reddit

Leaves a film in your mouth now...

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TakimaDeraighdin@reddit

Fun fact: different countries have different regulatory minimums for cocoa solids and milk in milk chocolate for it to be called milk chocolate. As a result, Australian/NZ Cadbury is a minimum 27% Cocoa Solids, 24% Milk Solids and does not use vegetable/palm oil. UK Cadbury is a minimum 20% Cocoa Solids, 20% Milk Solids, and uses palm oil to make up the difference.

You can taste the difference.

The UK version used to be a lot closer to the Aus/NZ ingredient percentages.

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Spirited_Peak_7810@reddit

All I have to say is it is not the same for whatever reason that is. It isn't awful but it's not s tier now it's b tier.

Galaxy is now the best and is s tier. Lindt is a tier. Never had Tony's. Nestle is c tier. Thornton's is d tier. No other big names I don't think.

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explodinghat@reddit

Nice try, Mr.Cadbury

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Ok-Personality-6630@reddit

Americans - Kraft

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tumbledryer76@reddit

Cadbury is shit

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StressyMcStressed@reddit

Idk I’m old enough to actually remember Cadbury pre-2010 pretty objectively and I’d say the perception of change happened right around when Easter eggs started leaving a small but obviously present layer of oil on my fingers that it didn’t before

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Suspicious_Banana255@reddit

You describe that they have changed vegetable oil for palm oil, so you answered your own question, that will be the recipe change that has made it taste horrible now.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

I also noted that this change would be imperceptible given how little of it is used.

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ParanoidBlueLobster@reddit

My dad worked most of his life at Danone, as a food engineer, specifically on biscuits. They spent year transitioning products to canola oils making sure they wouldn't affect the taste and product, Kraft bought Danone and changed it all to palm oil immediately he stopped buying their products as he said they ruined them.

tl;dr my dad who worked in food engineer says palm oil is terrible and you definitely can taste the difference palm oil is waxy

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tout-nu@reddit

You're missing the point.

You said it's a "myth" in your title to lead the readers into thinking it's not true.

You said Cadbury said "nothing changed"

But you clearly called out something did in fact change. Whether or not it's imperceptible is not the point. You should have titled this "the myth of changing veg oil to palm oil changes the taste"

Anyway, to answer your question. It does taste more generic. Similar to how Reese's changed.

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Ecstatic-Fly-4887@reddit

In addition to the ratios. Palm oil cheap. Cocoa not cheap. Use less cocoa. Make more profit. Call consumer deluded.

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shaneF-87@reddit

In 2012, a spokesperson for Cadbury (Tony Bilsborough) said "We're continually updating our chocolate" according to an article by the BBC.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17728683

More recently, according to an article in The journal.ie, when asked about it Cadbury stated they "had not made any changes to the cocoa, dairy or vegetable fat content of our Cadbury Dairy Milk products". That doesn't seem to be a denial that they've changed their recipe, as you seem to be suggesting.

https://www.thejournal.ie/its-like-cooking-chocolate-why-big-chocolate-is-changing-the-taste-of-our-favourite-bars-6999195-Apr2026/

The idea that a big corporation like Mondelez would never obfuscate or mislead is laughable. For example they might claim "our recipe hasn't changed" but by that mean only that the list of ingredients hasn't changed as opposed to relative quantities, source, quality, method of production etc. etc.

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Acrobatic-Arm6482@reddit

Theres no myth, just taste it, it's disgustingly too sweet now.

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Global-Tip-315@reddit

Try the American version. It is disgustingly sweet. Every year I do a Cadbury creme egg test with one American creme egg and one British creme egg. The difference is astounding. America = VERY SWEET to the point your teeth hurt. British= more creamier and less sweet for American tastes.

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Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit

The proportions of sugar have not changed for 20 years. You can find pictures of old wrappers of Dairy Milk.

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FidelityBob@reddit

But wrappers don't show proportions - only which ingredient has the higher quantity. They could go from 60% Milk and 10% sugar to 50% milk and 20% sugar without changing the labelling but the product would be very different.

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Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit

they do - check the nutritional information per 100g for both wrappers.

the milk content is still the same - 227g of milk whatever it is

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Acrobatic-Arm6482@reddit

The sugar hasn't, but that's exactly what they do, hide sugars in other ingredients.

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Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit

What?

The nutritional information per 100g has barely changed either.

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Acrobatic-Arm6482@reddit

Sure it has...

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Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit

https://share.google/LVZgaFWtIUpiDqa7i

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djwillis1121@reddit

I can't say I've ever noticed a change in taste

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Acrobatic-Arm6482@reddit

It's awful now, no creaminess to it, way too sweet also.

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Ambitious-Health-132@reddit

…because they changed the recipe

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alfa_omega@reddit

There is a program on channel 4 right now about them changing the recipe.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Funnily enough, I did see it. I'm guessing you didn't?

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alfa_omega@reddit

I was flicking around the channels and I watched a few minutes here and there as I live in Birmingham. Have they changed it then? I saw they were trying to come up with a new recipe and the guy said it was sending him grey or something 😂

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Yeah they're trying to make a version with 30% less sugar. But it hasn't gone on sale yet.

I wasn't really concentrating either but I'll have to watch in on catch up to double check, but I don't think they directly addressed the "recipe change" thing otherwise.

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Notshadowspod@reddit

Chocolate has changed significantly due to skyrocketing cocoa prices, which spiked to near US$12,000 a ton. Manufacturers have responded by increasing prices, reducing pack sizes (shrinkflation), and altering recipes to include less cocoa and more fillers like vegetable oils and sugars.

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Notshadowspod@reddit

Yes, Australian chocolate has changed significantly due to skyrocketing cocoa prices, which spiked to near US$12,000 a ton. Manufacturers have responded by increasing prices, reducing pack sizes (shrinkflation), and altering recipes to include less cocoa and more fillers like vegetable oils and sugars.

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DigitalStefan@reddit

Remember when Cadbury’s also listed in their website the fact “crème eggs have been the same size since…” and then all it took was someone on TV to show the actual difference because they had an old and new crème egg?

Lying on a website isn’t allowed. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

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Mindless-Maize1150@reddit

Just watching a documentary about Cadburys and they changed the oil in their creme eggs not so long ago.

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decloked@reddit

Same size in the UK. That size difference video was in the US.

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DigitalStefan@reddit

OK. Does that make a difference about whether lying on websites is a thing that happens despite not being allowed?

The US has the FTC (I think) with oversight of advertising standards.

Cadbury’s has gone to shit. We all know this. They are no longer the British darling based in Bournevill, they are a US owned entity designed to sell the cheapest possible products to a customer base who are being told (by Cadbury’s) how “traditional” they still are.

Guff and nonsense.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Ahhh, now we're getting somewhere. It's an anti-US thing. Makes sense I suppose.

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DigitalStefan@reddit

No. It’s an enshittification thing.

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Wonderful-Tale-1483@reddit

Is that a technical term ? lol

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Mindless-Maize1150@reddit

I appreciate your experiences - I don't buy Cadburys any more as I do feel the taste has changed to a cheaper, sickly, less chocolatey version. I can't say when this happened - but I think it was before COVID - I enjoy others which have more of a cocoa solids kick.

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Ok_Log3614@reddit

It was changed. This isn't some mass delusion, it really is that bad relative to what it used to be like prior to Mondelez acquiring it.

In some countries (i.e, France) it can't even legally be considered chocolate anymore with how much of a reduction in cocoa content it's had. They've also changed the slogan from "a glass and a half of milk" to "a glass and a half" - without disclosing what it's a glass and a half - because that also is no longer true (or they'll have a "there's a glass and a half in everyone" or some nonsense).

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thecremeegg@reddit

Just had my first Easter egg of the year, a Cadbury one. The recipe is definitely different, we struggled to finish it tbh and we are chocolate fiends.

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ForeverAwkward6492@reddit

The evidence is people tasting it.

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phatboy-steve@reddit

Yes, the recipe apparently has been changed slightly along with the certain wording as it is now classed as chocolate flavoured because of the limited amount of Coco that is in it. One of the other things,that people are nervous about is that the chocolate that is in it no is less than 20% and the rest of the Coco is lab grown. The main point is The extra chemicals comes into play through the lab grown Coco which I think is made in Israel, but I’m not 100% sure on that I would have to check again again. Besides, if people can taste the difference, regardless of what Google says the product ingredients has changed not for the better🤷🏻‍♂️

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robotsheepboy@reddit

There's literally a Cadbury documentary on netflix where they talk at length about changing the recipe

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Thin_Advance_2757@reddit

I just looked that up on the app and it's even in the description! Mention of them crafting a new take on Dairy Milk.

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AnonBr0wser@reddit

“The equivalent of 426ml of fresh liquid milk in every 227g of milk chocolate” They took the cream out of the milk, left the protein in so they could legally call it milk and added palm oil instead. Bastards.

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Thisoneissfwihope@reddit

They always say that the ingredients haven't changed. They never say that their recipe hasn't changed.

I work in FMCG, I've seen value engineering done. That's how it's done. Don't change the ingredients as labelled, change the quantities, change the quality.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Problem is people are believing this without any evidence and Cadbury clearly stating they have not changed the recipe.

Look at the reply to you below from u/Tastetherainbow_2016 (presumably more of a Skittles guy) - "I full believe they have lowered the milk content" etc. "Fully believe"? Based on what?

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Tastetherainbow_2016@reddit

Based on what my eyes can see and my taste buds can taste

You do know these companies lie dont you, have you seen the state of Nestle?

Also I’m not a guy, and skittles are disgusting. I did like chocolate until fairly recently

Cadbury chocolate may as well just be labelled Hershey’s at this point, its got the same weird white greasy sheen, same artificial flavour and waxy texture, and the same weird aftertaste.

It is not the same product and I will die on this hill

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CPeeB@reddit

How do you remember what it tasted like 10 years ago?

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Thisoneissfwihope@reddit

Out of interest, do you work for Cadbury and can say for certain that nothing has changed? If you're just believing your interpretation of their statements, then you're not talking from a position of direct knowledge. People like me are talking from experience of the industry.

I've worked in FMCG for almost 30 years. I've been in these recipe meetings for multiple companies, including in Confec. Reformulations happen all the time, products are changed at least every few years to control COGS and to allow for ingredient variations due to supply and quality issues. I know people who have worked at Cadbury and then Mondelez and they were complaining about recipe changes and value engineering years ago, let alone in the past few years when the quality cratered.

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bilbogod@reddit

Thank you! Finally someone who understands that Cadburys very carefully word their statements and the devil is in the detail. Cadburys can legit reduce cocoa butter and increase palm oil while still maintaining 5% vegetable fat but the taste and texture is not the same

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Tastetherainbow_2016@reddit

Yes. I fully believe they lowered the milk content to bare minimum and upped the artificial emulsifiers. Same ingredients, different amounts.

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Ok_Persimmon5620@reddit

Holy moly, I ate a Cadbury PS (Caramilk) and felt that the taste was less creamy, and I could swear I was eating white chocolate and not Caramilk. That's the last time a buy a Cabury, will be supporting Nestle only now.

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TurfWarsAuthor@reddit

I only came here after starting a bar and then tossing it in the bin. Google states the recipe has changed to reduce costs. Ingredients have changed, lower quality fats, less Coco solids and introduction of some traces of wheat. I am a ' super- taster' I can quickly detect artificial sugars and differentiate between glucose, fructose, sorbitol, aspartame etc. I am sure that the sugar now used is the usual cane sugar but think some has been replaced by wheat fibre. Whatever. Regardless of the original posters' suppositions, the taste has changed significantly and I don't like it at all. 'Cadbury' chocolate will no longer be in my shopping basket unless they change it back and clearly advertise they have made and rectified huge mistake. If I wanted cheap, central European chocolate, I'd buy it - I don't and I won't!

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BrayLives@reddit

You’re plain wrong on all counts. There are statements from former Cadbury quality control workers describing the changes made as heartbreaking. People are also legitimately reporting the taste changes. It isn’t a myth. It happened.

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deagostang@reddit

Cadburys has taste like dog mess for a long time. It’s cheap and nasty compared to other chocolate brands. Just google it, there’s so many better chocolates out there. You get what you pay for. They just have market dominance like McDonalds.

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EnthusiasticOne@reddit

Erm. How can you say hasn’t changed but then literally in the same thing you write they’ve changed vegetable oil for palm oil….

lol.

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confuzatron@reddit

I saw some bitching on twitter about cadbury's easter eggs so bought a couple. One white chocolate, one milk chocolate.

I absolutely do taste a difference from the Cadbury's milky bar and milk chocolate that I remember, but perhaps they never made their easter eggs from those recipes. Or perhaps it's just age, or covid having changed my taste buds/sense of smell a bit.

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n0p_sled@reddit

"They haven't changed the recipe" and "They have substituted vegetable oils for palm fats" can't both be true at the same time

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

There's no real difference between the two, and there is a tiny amount of vegetable fats (of any type) in chocolate.

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n0p_sled@reddit

If there's no real difference, why sis they change it?

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Top_Investment1825@reddit

Palm oil is bad in terms of deforestation, but as an ingredient, it's superior to other vegetable oils

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ml13l2r@reddit

Palm oil is a vegetable oil. They changed the proportion of palm oil among the vegetable oils but didn't increase the amount of fat used overall. Cadbury have used vegetable fats since the 1970's.

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LoveBeBrave@reddit

They haven’t actually changed anything there through. Cadbury have used palm oil for decades, originally listed as “vegetable oil”.

What changed was the law - palm oil now has to be listed separately to other vegetable oils. So where it used to say “vegetable oil” it now has to say “palm oil”

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quaranteenagedirtbag@reddit

Can't wait to see replies to this! I've heard the complaints but never actually knew whether the recipe had changed or not, so thank you for sharing that.

I like the covid hypothesis, seems plausible. But I also think it must be an age thing for some people. When I was a kid growing up in France I would go absolutely feral for Kinder Bueno and now I find them way too sweet and completely nauseating.

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SneezlesForNeezles@reddit

Considering that Cadbury's chocolate also no longer melts the same, the recipe has absolutely changed in a big enough way to make it a subpar baking ingredient.

How/what/why is up for debate to various degrees (I suspect the why is profit) but it's not overly surprising that if you've changed it enough to mess up the melting aspect, you are going to have also impacted how the product tastes.

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HoundParty3218@reddit

If the recipe hasn't changed, why doesn't Dairy Milk chocolate melt properly anymore? I have a much used and ancient Cadburys cook book from my childhood but the recipes no longer work with Cadburys chocolate.

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SneezlesForNeezles@reddit

My foster mother found exactly this. Cadbury's used to be her go to baking ingredient in chocolate recipes. It's subpar as a baking ingredient now because of the difference in how it melts.

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SneezlesForNeezles@reddit

Oh, it's changed. My foster mother used to use Cadbury's all the time in her baking, yet it no longer melts the same, making it a subpar cooking ingredient. She no longer uses Cadbury's chocolate in her baking.

I don't particularly mind Cadbury's chocolate, but it's naïve to say that it tastes the same as it used to. It doesn't. I was having this conversation with people over a decade ago and I wasn't the only one to notice that it just didn't taste the same.

I can't really say how much it's changed in the last five years or so as I so very rarely eat it now, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that it's gone further downhill.

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Polz34@reddit

I still eat and like Cadbury's BUT the boost bar is 100% different from what it was, it even looks different, used to be a light brown inside and super soft and now it's dark brown and a lot more chewy!

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Martinonfire@reddit

If it hasn't changed why do the wrappers just say 'Cadburys' now when they used to say 'Cadburys Chocolate'?

Because it is no longer chocolate, that's why!

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Morganx27@reddit

It obviously is chocolate. It hasn't said "chocolate" on the front since the 80s. It still says chocolate on the website, and it's completely in line with the definition of chocolate according to the Cocoa and Chocolate Products Regulation of 2003, general common sense, and every other possible definition of chocolate.

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Martinonfire@reddit

It no longer tastes like chocolate, it no longer claims to be chocolate.....

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Morganx27@reddit

It proves me right in two ways. One, as another commenter pointed out, it said "inspired by our design from 1980" backing up my assertion that it hasn't said "chocolate" on the front since the 80s or 90s.

Two, and the most damning indictment of your argument: you've shown me a modern package that says chocolate on it, which rather eloquently proves that not only can they call it chocolate, they routinely do call it chocolate. If that's a 200th anniversary package it's from 2024, only 2 years ago, well after people claim the recipe changed and well after they initially removed chocolate from the front of the packaging.

Unless there's a specific loophole in the chocolate regulations (a sentence I never pictured myself saying) which forbids them calling it chocolate on the packaging but allows them to call it chocolate in every other medium including their own website and supermarket descriptions, you're incorrect.

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ml13l2r@reddit

the wrapper literally says 'inspired by our design from 1980' so you're very much proving their point that it hasn't appeared since then

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spoo4brains@reddit

What is the going rate to be a shill for big shitty chocolate?

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

I don't really eat chocolate, I don't like Cadbury as a company, and as an ex smoker who had covid pretty bad, I'm probably immune to any taste changes. But that's irrelevant, it is nothing to do with me.

This is more a case study into groupthink mentality, and it's been fascinating.

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spoo4brains@reddit

Well I can assure you the taste has rapidly been going downhill since the US takeover. I can't eat Cadburys any more, but I can eat other brands so it isn't me that has changed.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

That was 17 years ago though. No one was talking about it then.

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DameKumquat@reddit

They used to boast about a 'glass and a half of full cream dairy milk in every pound' of Dairy Milk.

Then they had to stop that. The proportion of milk fat and protein has changed, and the texture is totally different. I believe Kraft kept the recipe, but promptly sold out to Mondelez, who didn't.

They use different recipes in different countries, which makes it more confusing, but there was no palm oil in the chocolate until around 2009.

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ml13l2r@reddit

This is one of those myths OP was talking about. They removed the 'glass and a half slogan' to comply with regulations. It now states 426 ml of Fresh Liquid Milk in every 227 g of Milk Chocolate which is... a glass and a half.

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ml13l2r@reddit

You're right but people are convinced. They did chape the shape which does change the way it tastes somewhat. I don't know why people expect a sweet treat to taste the same as when they were children, it's a weird false nostalgia thing in my view.

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likelivewirevoodoo@reddit

'Why are you saying the recipe has changed? Besides these ways it's different, it's exactly the same!'

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

To a level which makes no difference.

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likelivewirevoodoo@reddit

Technically it makes no difference to the pool if someone pisses while in the pool, or pisses into the pool from the side. Doesn't mean I'm gonna sit under them with my mouth open

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

"Cooking oil is the same as piss" is a level of discussion I didn't think we'd reach on this thread, but here we are!

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likelivewirevoodoo@reddit

stop putting words in my mouth they taste like piss

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melancholyy-scorpio@reddit

So you're allowed to say it makes no difference based on your opinion, but when other people say it, it's herd mentality?

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carl84@reddit

"They didn't change the recipe, they just substituted an ingredient for an inferior, cheaper ingredient!"

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Ok_Shirt983@reddit

"they may have in fact substituted all the other ingredients for cheaper, lower quality versions of the same thing, but that doesn't count because it still says "cocoa" on the label, so it must be the exact same thing in the exact same quantity!"

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Vorpal_Bunny_ECRU@reddit

Which massively contributes to worldwide deforestation and biodiversity loss

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ZippleJuice@reddit

People believe what they want to believe.

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dafyd_d@reddit

You said yourself that the recipe was, in fact, changed. But also the shape of the bar has been altered fairly significantly. I think that that has had a bigger effect on the flavour and texture experience than people realise.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

Granted shape change is a big factor, but wasn't that like 20 years ago?

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dafyd_d@reddit

The change was in 2013

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235iguy@reddit

This year at Xmas Cadbury Roses were fucking SHITE.

Brittle, tasteless, chalky. I chucked 90% of the box away. That bad.

Not even close to being the same thing. I would not have guessed they were Roses on a blind taste taste.

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rde42@reddit

They changed the proportions. Much less cocoa now. So much so that legally they can't call it chocolate.

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RecentTwo544@reddit (OP)

How do you know this? This is like McDonald's burgers being made of worms or the like - total urban myth.

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Breaking-Dad-@reddit

If you are talking about Dairy Milk then you are perpetuating a myth. This isn't true.
However, some "chocolate" bars (Penguins, some Kit Kats) have changed. But these aren't even Cadbury products, so you are proving OP right.

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Grinyarg@reddit

Should we stop reducing quality to increase profits? No, it's all the people who say they can taste the difference and are voting with their feet that are wrong!

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FidelityBob@reddit

You have the ingredients list, not the recipe. I used to be married to a food technologist for a major supermarket. They try to hide as much detail of the recipe as possible from the ingredients list while remaining compliant with the law. Recipes are closely guarded secrets because they don't want their rivals to be able to reproduce their product easily.

The rumour started when the American company Kraft Foods bought Cadbury in 2010.

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SavlonWorshipper@reddit

I feel like it has changed a little for the worse, but it is still pretty good. Significantly better than Nestle, not as good as Masterfoods (Mars, Galaxy, etc). It hasn't gone through a major change like Weetos did 25 years ago, going from the God of Diabetes Delivery to fucking nonsense immediately.

Cadbury seem to have taken the lead on shrinking their products and raising price points, but I don't think they are hitting us with a triple whammy through major taste degradation. The Cadbury hate has gotten into the hive mind is all. It will slip away in a few years. I remember when Reddit was a cat site, quite vehemently so, then dogs took over, then they reached a kind of parity, now I see a lot of birds for some reason? Reddit evolves over time like consumer chocolate, I guess.

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Tastetherainbow_2016@reddit

“There is zero evidence for this and Cadbury themselves have released statements insisting it hasnt changed … They have substituted vegetable oils for palm fats”

So yes, it has changed, theres no myth. It now contains palm oil when previously there was veg oil. If that really is the only change (which I doubt), that must be what everyone’s taste buds are detecting

Cadburys chocolate has turned into shit American chocolate; bland, waxy, weird shitty aftertaste, often has an off-white creamy sheen over it. Might as well just label it Hershey’s at this point

The law is irrelevant to these companies, look at Nestle. I dont care how much they gaslight us, it is not the same product and I will die on this hill

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

Well you say there the oil has changed, and it is possible people have picked up on that. But I do broadly agree, it is basically people repeating a meme. The chocolate is fine. It is cheap, mass produced stuff and always has been - this wonderful delight of their childhood is rose tinted nostalgia.

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Acrobatic-Arm6482@reddit

I don't need validating, anyone who disagrees the flavour hasn't changed must have a lack of taste buds. They can put all they like on the wrapper, that's just minimum specs. What happened to "a glass and a half of milk" ? A glass and a half of palm oil doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Cadburys is always on offer also.

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AlexMC69@reddit

I only ate Cadburys chocolate in the before-times. I haven't eaten it once since it was acquired.

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roxieh@reddit

The evidence is the fact that it tastes different. The company can say they haven't changed the recipe but it's obviously not true.

Compared with the Cadbury of 20 years ago it's not the same stuff.

It tastes different.

It feels different.

A company trying to convince you it tastes the same when it obviously doesn't is very 1984.

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liquidio@reddit

It absolutely does taste different.

I don’t care about Kraft taking over Cadbury, I don’t have that bias. I didn’t pay any attention to stories talking about recipe changes.

I just noted that it tastes different, and worse.

It’s not the only chocolate brand that has changed, but it’s definitely the one that has most noticeably degraded.

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Misty_Pix@reddit

Just like you I don't really care about the company, what I care about is whenever the chocolate tasyte good and as chocolate and I genuinely don't like Cadbury stuff anymore, it doesn't taste like chocolate it tastes sweeter and it hurts my teeth. Which BTW doesn't hurt anytime I eat high content and quality chocolate. May be biased, but cadbury's taste is weird.

I don't know what it used to be but compared to other chocolates you can buy now it is not the same and is far worse.

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oli_ramsay@reddit

They use cheap shit ingredients like vegetable oil and palm oil instead of cocoa mass to save money.

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CongealedBeanKingdom@reddit

People's taste buds?

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Groffulon@reddit

Well it used to taste like gorgeous chocolate filled chocolate with a pint and a half of milk or whatever and now it tastes like palm oily chocolate flavoured sugar formed into a spongy slop block.

How do I know? I was born in 1980 and I remember exactly what Cadburys used to taste like. Whatever this slop is. It’s not Cadburys. It bends before it breaks…

Op you think they’re going to admit to ensloppifying their product? Everything is being changed on the sly to extract more profit from the same deal or made smaller for higher price. They think we don’t notice but we do.

If something no longer hits like it used to then I just won’t buy it any more. These trashy companies are actually making me healthier. Soft drinks, sweets, chocolate, crisis are all slowly being made shitter and shitter and I notice immediately and won’t buy it again.

It’s not a myth and if they convinced you then this posts reflects that they’re winning this race to the sloppy bottom.

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AlGunner@reddit

Youve posted a story about claims that Cadburys cant be called chocolate any more as it has too little cocoa solids which is false and mistakenly think that is the same thing as the previous change in ingredients. There were 2 changes that caused that with the latest being in 2018 when they reduced the amount of sugar and increased the palm oil. That is the one why people dont like it any more, not what youre talking about. The only shocking thing is its already 8 years ago.

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therealhairykrishna@reddit

"this is a very small part of the ingredients/chocolate making process, and wouldn't affect the taste."

Says who? Because it seems that the taste has changed.

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

After Kraft took over Cadburys in 2010, they did change some of the recipes and it became less good. We have long memories. They also changed mouth feel by changing the shapes of bars.

They changed the shell of a creme egg from dairy milk to standard chocolate to save money.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/12/shellshock-cadbury-comes-clean-on-creme-egg-chocolate-change

However the recent furore is more to do with differences with how the EU and UK define chocolate. EU has 25% as minimum cocoa content to be classed as chocolate while UK has 20%.

I haven't really bought it since the take-over because they promised to keep factories open as part of the purchase and then shut them down the following year.

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ukdev1@reddit

Take Creme Eggs for example:

Cadbury Creme Egg - Wikipedia

In 2015, the British Cadbury company under the American Mondelez International conglomerate announced that it had changed the formula of the Cadbury Creme Egg by replacing its Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate with "standard cocoa mix chocolate".

So there you go.

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LoveBeBrave@reddit

“Take the only example as an example”.

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The_Final_Barse@reddit

They can claim all they want but, as you acknowledge, the replaced cocoa fats with palm oil.

That's it. It's noticeable.

Cadbury are now owned by Mondelez International, and they soft launched the change in recipe in NZ in 2009 to massive backlash. They reverted to the old recipe soon thereafter.

So yeah, the recipe changed. We noticed it. The NZ folk noticed it, but we haven't done anything about it.

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Gamer_Jen@reddit

You are on your own on this. It has changed and it tastes absolutely gross. I don't agree that substituting with palm oil wouldn't make a difference, it clearly does. A closer look at the previous recipe which is still being sold in Australia, has a minimum of 27% cocoa solids, whereas the standard UK version sits at only 20%. Then there’s the fat source - the UK recipe lists vegetable fats like palm and shea on the label, but the classic plain bar uses only cocoa butter and full cream milk. HELLO.

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Electricbell20@reddit

From what I can remember, the creme egg chocolate was changed to a standard chocolate, instead of dairy milk. From there on it spread to all of Cadbury stuff.

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dope567fum@reddit

Is it not made with crappy palm oil? That's what makes it taste shit.

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Jenpot@reddit

It's so bad now that I won't even get a creme egg Easter egg, and I've done that every year since I was little.

I don't know what changed but something has because it's no longer edible. I just blame the palm oil.

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VOOLUL@reddit

Ingredient lists don't include how much of each ingredient there is. The higher in the list the higher the percentage but they can tweak the ratios of ingredients and substitute milk and cocoa for more sugar and fat and the recipe would look the same but really not be the same.

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abarishyper@reddit

Cadbury was ruined when bought by Kraft food, I will never buy another Cadbury product ever, don't care what it tastes like. They're still trying to sell it's nostalgia with their saccharine adverts, f them.

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Striking_Smile6594@reddit

Honestly, I agree. I keep reading on the internet that Cadburys chocolate has changed and it's now disgusting and it's all the fault of the Yanks, but to me it tates exactly the same as it always has.

I feel like it's become one of those received opinions that people take a gospel and verbally agree with because they don't want to be confrontational.

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madeleineruth19@reddit

Maybe my palate just isn’t particularly discerning, but I agree - I never know what people are talking about when they say Cadburys is disgusting now. I eat it all the time and it’s just as delicious as it always was for me. Definitely doesn’t taste like Hersheys, as people like to claim.

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missuseme@reddit

I love having a non-discerning palate. Chocolate tastes like chocolate to me.

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cgknight1@reddit

I looked into it a while back, and the conclusion that I came to was that the really big change to the process occurred just before they were sold to Mondelez International.

Most people missed this at the time.

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Djinjja-Ninja@reddit

Haven't changed the recipe, apart from the fact they changed the recipe to use palm fats...

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WhatsFunf@reddit

I'm sorry but you're just wrong here - Palm oil fats absolutely do taste different to other vegetable oils, and most importantly they taste vastly different to milk fats and cocoa butter.

It may only be SLIGHTLY less milk, SLIGHTLY less cocoa, butter, SLIGHTLY more palm oil (in place of vegetable oil), and it will definitely taste different. It is undeniable.

Of course Cadbury will claim they haven't changed it. In what way would it be illegal to say they haven't changed the percentages of the ingredients when they have? They only need to list the ingredients in order of percentage.

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Slipper1981@reddit

This started in 2010 when Kraft took over Cadbury. The quality has been dreadful since and continues to degrade further with more and more changes to the recipe. It’s public record, you can google this yourself.

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melancholyy-scorpio@reddit

Because it really does taste like dogshit now. And it must be a recipe issue because nothing else is going to impact the taste.

I wonder if people are only just noticing the taste changes because the chocolate with the new recipe is only just making it onto shelves.

I've a Cadbury's lover all my life, no other chocolate came close and it was basically the only chocolate I'd eat, and very easily too.

I got 3 huge bars of it over Christmas and I've barely touched any of it because it's so disgusting. Keeping faith, I tried Mini Eggs a few weeks ago - my annual craving around Easter - and they tasted horrible and stale. My last hope was a Creme Egg, which was absolutely awful.

So now I've sworn off Cadburys, because I'm not wasting money (or calories!) on such a disgustingly tasting chocolate.

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Fungus_Mungus46@reddit

It tastes awful and has for quite a while. I can't eat it.

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Brexit-Broke-Britain@reddit

Still at it, trying to polish the Cadbury Turd. Are you on a salary or piece rate (paid per comment)?

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CptnBrokenkey@reddit

Palm oil tastes of orangutan tears. That's the flavour difference people are tasting.

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Brexit-Broke-Britain@reddit

Still at it, trying to polish the Cadbury Turd. Are you on a salary or piece rates (pay per comment)?

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SensitiveEffective11@reddit

Nice try Big Chocolate! You won’t get me

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Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit

Whilst the ingredients list has barely changed, the supply chain and quality can be altered over time resulting in an inferior product

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Big_Lavishness_6823@reddit

Cadburys was lovely and now tastes like shit.

The Irish made one was always great, and is still better than the English one, but they've all got noticeably worse.

I've stopped eating them, which has probably done me a favour.

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uneasy-chicken@reddit

It does taste much much worse, especially the eggs. Maybe it's thinner? I don't even try to nick my kids easter eggs now :)

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