Cadbury Creme Eggs are a British institution running up to Easter, so why has this seriously sweet chocolate candy, containing an oozing fondant center (which sets your teeth on edge) hitting the UK headlines in January? It's because it was revealed today that US owners of Cadbury have 'secretly changed' the Creme Egg recipe! Twitter and Facebook are awash with unhappy UK consumers and outraged fans.
American food giants Mondelēz International (the confectionery business of Kraft Foods was split out into a separate company in 2012) own Cadbury's and they are now facing strong criticism for "secretly" rolling out what has been described as a new "cheaper-tasting" Creme Egg. According to The Sun Newspaper, they have replaced the hugely popular Cadbury dairy milk shell, with one made from a standard cocoa, mix chocolate. A spokesman for Kraft told the British newspaper: "It's no longer Dairy Milk. It's similar, but not exactly Diary Milk. We tested the new one with consumers. It was found to be the best one for the Creme Egg, which is why we've used it this year. The Creme Egg has never been called the Cadbury's Dairy Milk Creme Egg. We have never played on the fact that Dairy Milk chocolate was used." – Spokesman
The egg-shaped confectionery treat was initially launched in 1971 and by changing the recipe, has caused it to come under scrutiny. The ingredients contain palm fat, paprika extract and yellow 6 food coloring. Each egg contains a whopping 26.5g sugars.
One rather sad realization for me, is not that the creme eggs may taste marginally different, but that I would rather spend money on quality chocolate instead.
Image: Cadbury Crème Egg