It’s almost refreshing in this increasingly vile hellscape we live in that people can still get hopped up about seemingly innocuous shit. To wit: Ferrero, the makers of beloved chocolate hazelnut spread Nutella (as well as Tic Tacs and Ferrero Rocher chocolate) recently tweaked its (previously perfect) recipe, resulting in outcries across the globe. According to the Washington Post, the new Nutella recipe “has 8.7 percent powdered skim milk, instead of 7.5 percent. It also contains 56.3 percent sugar, instead of the previous 55.9 percent, the Hamburg Consumer Protection Center said.” The increase in powdered milk has resulted in a lighter brown shade for the spread, shaking its many fans to the absolute core. The recipe change is likely economically based, as raw materials like hazelnuts and chocolate are more expensive than powdered milk and sugar. Ironically, Nutella was created when a chocolate shortage after World War II led Italian chef Pietro Ferrero to stretch out the company’s chocolate spread recipe with hazelnuts.
Outraged Nutella lovers worldwide are taking to Twitter to report their displeasure with the updated recipe, likening the change to the New Coke disaster of 1985.
No word yet from Ferrero on the possibility of undoing the controversial change, but @NutellaUSA is responding to tweeting protestors by saying the new spread is “the Nutella fans know and love”:
This seems mathematically inaccurate.