Chocoholics are up in arms as the beloved Toblerone Dark bar, once hailed as "possibly the best chocolate", has been scrapped.
Toblerone's parent company, Mondelez, has officially pulled the plug on the Dark chocolate bars in the UK, which has caused dismay among fans of the treat. The company acknowledged the decision will leave a bitter taste for some, and the response on social media, just days before Easter Sunday, suggests that is indeed the case, reports the Mirror.
A fan said on Facebook: "Dark chocolate version is the best!"
"I only like dark chocolate... Why are they discontinuing it? It is less sweet and healthier. Well, another good thing gone," said another.
Another lamented: "What a sad day for the world of chocolate," as the tributes poured in. "My mum adores these!" said a fan, with another chocoholic despairing: "Dreadful news, I enjoy these."
Introduced way back in 1969, Toblerone Dark has charmed the taste buds of chocolate enthusiasts for over five decades. Amongst many rave reviews over the years, one aficionado declared: "This is possibly the best chocolate, if you can eat almonds and nougat with dark chocolate."
A spokesperson for Mondelez, the company behind Toblerone, which is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, stated: "While we understand that this may be disappointing for some consumers, we continue to invest in Toblerone."
No explanation has been provided by Mondelez, which also owns Cadbury's and operates in more than 150 countries, and it is unclear if the Toblerone Dark will be discontinued worldwide or just the UK. The Irish Mirror has contacted Mendelez to confirm the fate of the beloved bar in Ireland.
Toblerone was invented in Switzerland by Theodor Tobler and Emil Baumann in 1908. The brand's name is a play on words from the names "Tobler" and "Torrone," the Italian name for honey-almond nougat.
Last year, the company was banned from using the iconic image of the Swiss Matterhorn mountain peak on its packaging after it announced it was moving production from Switzerland to Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia.
Having the mountain peak on the packaging would've violated the country's Swissness Act, a piece of legislation passed in 2017 that bans national symbols and Swiss crosses from the packaging of products that do not meet Swissness criteria.
Under the act, edible products using Swiss national symbols - or claiming to be "Swiss made" - must have at least 80 per cent of the product's raw materials come from Switzerland. This increases to 100% for milk and dairy products. Because the production of its chocolates moved outside of Switzerland, the company was forced to replace the words "of Switzerland" with "established in Switzerland".
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