XPost: alt.food.safety, rec.food.cooking, misc.consumers   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   From: adrastea2050@live.com   
      
   Brad Reese, the grandson of the inventor of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups,   
   is criticizing The Hershey Co. for "quietly replacing" the candy's   
   flagship chocolate and peanut butter ingredients.   
      
   Reese claimed on LinkedIn last week that the company has replaced milk   
   chocolate with compound coatings and peanut butter with peanut   
   butter-style crème across multiple Reese's products, a move he alleges   
   has eroded the Reese's brand and jeopardized consumer trust.   
      
   "How does The Hershey Company continue to position Reese's as its   
   flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership, while quietly   
   replacing the very ingredients (Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter) that   
   built Reese's trust in the first place?" Reese wrote in a Feb. 14   
   LinkedIn post in which he shared an open letter addressed to Hershey's   
   corporate brand manager.   
      
   Brad Reese is the grandson of H.B. Reese, who spent two years at Hershey   
   before forming his own candy company in 1919. H.B. Reese invented   
   Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in 1928, and his six sons eventually sold his   
   company to Hershey in 1963.   
      
   "Reese's became iconic because my grandfather built it on real   
   ingredients and real integrity," Reese wrote in a separate LinkedIn post   
   on Tuesday.   
      
   Hershey defends its decisions   
   In a statement to CBS News, Hershey said it sometimes makes "product   
   recipe adjustments," although it noted that "Reese's Peanut Butter Cups   
   are made the same way they always have been."   
      
   "As we've grown and expanded the Reese's product line, we make product   
   recipe adjustments that allow us to make new shapes, sizes and   
   innovations that Reese's fans have come to love and ask for, while   
   always protecting the essence of what makes Reese's unique and special:   
   the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter," the company   
   said.   
      
   Elevated cocoa prices have led some candy manufacturers to experiment   
   with using less chocolate in recent years. Cocoa prices have dropped in   
   recent months, but, as experts have told CBS News, retail prices remain   
   sticky because of a lag between purchases of raw cocoa beans and when   
   companies produce their candies.   
      
   Brad Reese said he thinks Hershey went too far. He said he recently   
   threw out a bag of Reese's Mini Hearts, which were a new product   
   released for Valentine's Day. The packaging notes that the heart-shaped   
   candies are made from "chocolate candy and peanut butter crème," not   
   milk chocolate and peanut butter.   
      
   "It was not edible," Reese told The Associated Press in an interview.   
   "You have to understand. I used to eat a Reese's product every day. This   
   is very devastating for me."   
      
   Strict chocolate standards   
   The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has strict ingredient and labeling   
   requirements for chocolate. To be considered milk chocolate, products   
   must contain at least 10% chocolate liquor, which is a paste made from   
   ground cocoa beans and contains no alcohol. Products also must contain   
   at least 12% milk solids and 3.39% milk fat.   
      
   Companies can get around those rules by using other wording on their   
   packaging. The wrapper for Hershey's Mr. Goodbar, for example, contains   
   the words "chocolate candy" instead of "milk chocolate."   
      
   Reese claims Hershey changed the recipes for multiple Reese's products   
   in recent years. Reese's Take5 and Fast Break bars used to be coated   
   with milk chocolate, he said, but now they aren't. In the early 2000s,   
   when Hershey released White Reese's, they were made with white   
   chocolate. Now they're made with a white creme, he said.   
      
   Reese said Reese's Peanut Butter Cups sold in Europe, the United Kingdom   
   and Ireland are also different than U.S. versions. On Wednesday, a   
   package advertised on the website of British online supermarket Ocado   
   described the candy as "milk chocolate-flavored coating and peanut   
   butter crème."   
      
   In a conference call with investors last year, Hershey Chief Financial   
   Officer Steven Voskuil said the company made some changes in its   
   formulas. Voskuil did not say for which products but said Hershey was   
   very careful to maintain the "taste profile and the specialness of our   
   iconic brands."   
      
   "I would say in all the changes that we've made thus far, there has been   
   no consumer impact whatsoever. As you can imagine, even on the smallest   
   brand in the portfolio, if we were to make a change, there's extensive   
      
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