Hershey's chocolates are getting a makeover - but you probably won't notice it.
There's no doubt that the sweet treat still contains a lot of sugar, but Hershey's Kisses, along with the company's other chocolate bars, are set to make a drastic change in its ingredients.
The Hershey's chocolate products will no longer be made using the artificial flavoring vanillin, but with natural ingredients. According to The Associated press by way of The Sacramento Bee:
"The candy company said this week that its milk chocolate Hershey's Kisses and bars are now being made with flavor from real vanilla instead of an artificial flavor."
But that isn't the only change happening in the chocolate recipes, as First We Feast also reports:
"The company is also removing lactose, a sugar found in milk, from both Kisses and bars. PGPR, an ingredient that 'makes chocolate flow better in a manufacturing plant,' is also being removed from the bars. Instead, Hershey's is upping the amount of cocoa butter to 'produce the right texture.' The candy maker says that it started shipping the more natural chocolates to stores a few weeks ago."
As it turns out, the decision to make use of simple ingredients in Kisses and the chocolate bars are "part of a broader commitment by the food giant to be more transparent about what goes into the food it sells," as per Fortune.
Vice president and general manager of US Confection at Hershey, Mary-Ann Somers, notes:
"We started making our great-tasting chocolate in 1894 with ingredients you might find in your pantry, like cocoa, milk, sugar and vanilla, and we're continuing that tradition today. [...] People want to see ingredients that they know and are familiar with in their foods and we're listening."
Consumers will soon notice a "natural flavor" label on the ingredients list of Hershey's Kisses and Hershey's chocolate bars.
Hershey's isn't the first company to pull the plug on fake ingredients. Subway, Kellogg's, Papa John's and Nestle are just some of the brands who have forgone the use of artificial ingredients as well.
