Outrage Spreads Over Secret Nutella Recipe Change

Nutella fans are not happy about this one.

If you've had the sneaking sensation that your Nutella sandwiches have been tasting a little different of late, you are not imagining things.

In a move first noted by Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg (Hamburg Consumer Protection Centre) on its Facebook page, Nutella maker Ferrero has apparently quietly changed the recipe of the internationally beloved hazelnut-chocolate spread, boosting the amount of sugar (from 55.9 to 56.3 percent) and the powdered milk content (from 7.5 to 8.7 percent), and decreasing the cocoa enough that it now appears lower in the list of ingredients.

"Since the color of the new Nutellas is brighter, we assume that more milk powder was added at the expense of cocoa," the organization surmised.

On the bright side, according to the German consumer group, the fat content has also decreased — from 31.8 to 30.9 percent.

Nutella USA confirmed the changes on Twitter. "Our recipe underwent a fine-tuning and continues to deliver the Nutella fans know and love with high quality ingredients," the brand posted.

Nutella fans are, to put it mildly, not so sure. Many of them have taken to Twitter to express their disappointment and outrage.

"WHY????? It's not good to tinker with a winning recipe!" tweeted one change-resistant Nutella lover.

"Can you leave it alone? We don't need more sugar and powdered milk. We need ‪#Nutella the way it has always been," begged another.

The hashtag "#NutellaGate" has become a rallying cry. The word boycott was bandied about.

Others sounded a more ominous note. "Dear @NutellaUSA @NutellaGlobal," wrote Twitter user Jamie Johnson. "Do u remember #NewCoke? Yeah, that worked real well!"

Ouch.

Photo: iStock

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