If you look closely at certain packets of McVities
Digestives and Nestlé KitKats in the UK, you might notice
something rather surprising. They are no longer being described as ‘white
chocolate’ biscuits. Instead, you’ll find that it just says the word
‘white’ rather than ‘white chocolate’ on the front of the packs. The
product descriptions have also been tweaked to say the biscuits have a ‘white
coating’ or a ‘white chocolate flavour’. It can’t be helped though, as the
sweet treats no longer contain the required level of cocoa butter needed to
legally be described as chocolate. In order to be classified as white chocolate a product needs to contain
a minimum of 20% cocoa butter. However, the amount in White KitKats (including
the Chunky version) no longer meets this requirement. Interestingly, McVities
has removed cocoa butter from its White Digestive recipe altogether. Instead,
both brands now use a mixture of palm and shea fats to make their white
coatings. As such, Nestlé quietly removed the word ‘chocolate’
from the front of its White KitKat packets earlier in 2025, while McVities made
a similar change to the White Digestive packaging recently. ‘Recently, due to a
business continuity issue with our coating supplier, we have carefully crafted
a new recipe for White Digestives. Sensory testing with consumers showed
the new recipe delivers the same great taste and texture as the original they
know and love.’
BBQ - Would this impact your decision to purchase these products?
