If you look closely at certain packets of McVities Digestives and Nestlé KitKats in the UK, you might notice something rather surprising.
Which is that these items are no longer being described as ‘white chocolate’ biscuits.
Instead, you’ll find that it just says the word ‘white’ instead of 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’.
Doesn’t sound quite as appealing, does it?
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.
According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), UK legislation states that to be classified as ‘white chocolate’ a product needs to contain a minimum of 20% cocoa butter.
However, the cocoa butter levels in White KitKats (including the Chunky version) no longer meet this requirement.
And 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. (Athough Chunky White KitKats do still contain some cocoa butter, as well as cocoa powder and cocoa mass).
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.
Pladis, which owns McVities, said they started using an alternative to cocoa butter in their biscuits because of a ‘business continuity issue with [their] coating supplier’.
A spokesperson for Pladis told Metro: ‘As proud custodians of biscuits and snacks that have been loved for generations, it is crucial that we continue to deliver our high quality products consistently.
‘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.’
While a spokesperson for Nestlé told The Grocer that updating their packaging means they are ‘accurate and compliant with how we describe the ingredient which is made with vegetable fats rather than cocoa butter’.
What is cocoa butter?
Cocoa butter is a natural vegetable fat that’s extracted from cocoa beans, it’s pale yellow in colour and is used to make chocolate as well as certain skincare and beauty products.
The fat gives chocolate a smooth texture and solid shape and helps create that glorious melt-in-your-mouth experience when eating.
In other chocolate news, McVities recently issued a cease and desist letter to the London Biscuit Museum after they featured Jaffa Cakes in a display.
‘Dear Sirs, Madams, and Biscuit Enthusiasts,’ the letter begins. ‘It has come to our attention, with no small degree of dismay, that the Biscuit Museum has included the humble Jaffa Cake within its exhibition of Biscuitry.
‘We write to you today, not with crumbs of animosity, but with a full slice of firm objection.
‘Allow us to be clear: Jaffa Cakes are, in fact, cakes. Not biscuits. Not hybrid snacks. Some would say the clue is in the name on the box.’
And it seems the viral Dubai Chocolate craze might finally have some competition, as a new chocolate bar has been spotted in shops, known as Angel Hair chocolate.
It’s made with ruby and white chocolate, and like the Dubai bar features a pistachio cream filling. However, instead of Kadayif pastry, it’s filled with ‘cotton candy’.
Food futurologist, Dr Morgaine Gaye, told Metro that this cotton candy is actually what’s known as Pashmak, and it’s this ingredient specifically that’s set to be the next big thing.
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