What Is the Hershey’s Chocolate Formula Controversy? Everything You Need to Know
Hershey’s chocolate bars that bend like rubber instead of snapping clean have become one of TikTok’s most-shared food debates in early 2026. The videos have pulled back the curtain on ingredient shifts across some of the company’s most recognizable products — and a surging cocoa market that’s squeezing the entire candy industry.
The controversy picked up steam after the grandson of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup inventor publicly accused The Hershey Company of swapping out key ingredients. Here’s what the company has acknowledged and what the product labels actually say.
Why Hershey’s Chocolate Bars Are Bending on TikTok
Multiple TikTok users posted videos in early 2026 showing Hershey’s bars that wouldn’t snap or melt the way chocolate normally does. Instead, the bars bent. The clips spread fast, with other users running their own tests at home.
Some viewers took the videos as proof Hershey’s had recently changed its formula.
What Brad Reese Alleged About Hershey’s Ingredients
The TikTok wave came after earlier claims from Brad Reese, the grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. In a Feb. 14 letter to The Hershey Company’s corporate brand manager, he alleged the company had replaced milk chocolate with compound coatings and peanut butter with peanut-butter-style crème in some products, according to the Associated Press.
Hershey responded on Feb. 19, saying the classic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup “hasn’t changed” and is still made with milk chocolate and freshly roasted peanut butter. The company said that as the brand expanded into new shapes and seasonal items, it made “product recipe adjustments.”
The classic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup still meets U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards for milk chocolate, which require at least 10% cacao, according to the Associated Press.
Which Hershey’s Products Have Different Ingredients
Brad Reese and Associated Press reporting identified several products carrying different labels. Reese’s Mini Hearts are labeled “chocolate candy and peanut butter crème.” Reese’s Take5 and Fast Break bars are no longer coated in milk chocolate. White Reese’s products use “white crème” instead of white chocolate. Mr. Goodbar is labeled “chocolate candy” rather than “milk chocolate.”
Those products use compound coatings made with vegetable oils such as palm oil and shea oil instead of cocoa butter.
Under FDA regulations, product labels reflect what is in the food. Items labeled “milk chocolate” meet federal standards. Labels reading “chocolate candy” or “chocolatey” typically indicate vegetable oils have replaced cocoa butter.
How Rising Cocoa Prices Factor In
Cocoa prices rose about 70% in 2024 due to crop disease, aging trees and extreme weather in West Africa, reaching a record high in late 2024, according to the Associated Press. During a February 2025 earnings call, then-CEO Michele Buck said the company could adjust pricing, packaging and recipes as costs changed.
The pressure hasn’t let up. Chocolate prices soared 14.4% over the initial weeks of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier, nearly doubling the pace of price increases at the start of 2025, according to findings shared with ABC News by intelligence firm Datasembly. The sharp rise owes to a cocoa shortage caused primarily by adverse weather and crop disease in West Africa, which accounts for about 70% of the world’s cocoa, some analysts told ABC News.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
