Enshittification of McVitie’s chocolate biscuits

[NutellaEllaElla]

Oh no, McVitie’s are having to rename their biscuits as chocolate flavoured as they are reducing the cocoa content to the point that it is no longer chocolate. Just another reduction in quality which is not good enough IMO. I don’t buy chocolate flavoured crap. High quality products used to be what this country was known for.

Here’s the link btw
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/18/chocolate-biscuit-club-penguin-mcvities-cocoa-prices

Give it time (not long) and they will launch a “new” premium product that is more expensive and it will taste very much like what you have been used to.

There is only so much size reduction, price increases and cheaper ingredients they can do to keep up with their greed

WTF…..wtf…. Going to sainsburys to stock up!

Even since I started on WLI and no longer eat for eating sake I realise how little taste is in so many foods compared to my childhood. It’s so rare now that I eat something and really enjoy it. I’m starting to figure out this is probably because the quality of so many products are in the toilet.

The only biscuits I routinely enjoy are all butter shortbread. Most other biscuits taste like sweet cardboard as they’re made with the cheapest possible fats, flour and sugar.

I find supermarket own brands are often more reliable on cocoa content than the brands. Cadbury’s, McVities, all the names use palm oil and shea oil and other exotic fats as they’re cheaper than cocoa butter. Sainsbury’s own-brand chocolate is still made with cocoa butter though.

@ChardonnaysBeastlyCatdo you mind telling me the name of the recipe please? 🙏🏻

Don't all digestive biscuits contain wheat? I thought it was one of the main ingredients.

Enshittification is a great word though!

It is a shame and it isn't going unnoticed. Food is much worse quality now, dark chocolate versions of sweets are disappearing and in it's place we have Caramilk or Caramel Chocolate which I am not sure is chocolate at all but just milk and sugar masquerading as such. McVities Digestives have changed a few time recently I think the base changed a few years ago and probably the chocolate content as well then. The price keeps going up to the point where they literally aren't worth it anymore.

The same could be said for many restaurants and cafes they have just gone well beyond their price point for the quality and service they provide. Some more independent cafe's are good, even if they are expensive are worth visiting occasionally but for the most part I've given up wasting my money going to cafes for tea and cake and I just make my own now and buy nice loose leaf tea to have at home. I'm even getting a stand mixer as I make more of our at home treats now as it's at the point where it is cheaper and so much nicer.

I do wonder if as my own cooking has improved I've become more critical of restaurants what they serve, expecting better then what I'd make myself at least and so often it isn't the case.

When I fancy a chocolate biscuit I like a Fox's chocolate round. Still very nice chocolate and thick. Well, it was the last time I had one.

It's the Chocolate and hazelnut cake from Appetite.

I use wholewheat flour for the full digestive biscuit experience.

That's bad news, they'll probably taste like plastic.
I love the word enshittification by the way.

DS had food allergies as an infant in the early 2010s which restricted our diet for a couple of years. After that, I really noticed how palm-oily a lot have foods have become. I also do not get on with artificial sweetners and am sensitive to their taste. It was very easy to identify the stealthy changes in recipes in drinks when the sugar tax came in.

I don't buy many "sweet treats" in and would rather bake cake than buy from the supermarket.

Buy the best ingredients you can and make your own, it doesn't take long, and they're always infinitely better than anything you can buy, you always eat them mindfully too, because they are special treats, agree with others that bought biscuits are vile these days. Make some simple digestives and cover them in the best quality sustainable chocolate yum.

I ditched the branded choc digestives when I tried Lidl own - the dark ones are peak

Is the Tower Gate brand their own brand name? Is it those I need to look for?