Nestlé Is Changing the Kit Kat Recipe and People Are Outraged

Nothing beats a Kit Kat. The rustle of silver foil and satisfying snap as you break apart those fingers of crispy, chocolate-covered wafer is a pretty unrivalled eating experience. Even if you do eat yours like a freak.

But the classic chocolate bar is about to change. Swiss confectionary giant Nestlé announced yesterday that Kit Kats are getting a healthy makeover. In an effort to reduce sugar in its products by 10 percent before 2018, the company will now make Kit Kats with less sugar, but higher amounts of milk and cocoa. It's the first time the original recipe has changed since the chocolate bar was launched in 1936.

Kit Kat devotees have taken to social media to express their outrage at the new, "healthier" chocolate bar. One Twitter user said: "KitKat Japan has flavours like wasabi, ginger, sake and yam. But healthy? That's just unacceptable." Another person tweeted: "Nestle [sic] has changed the recipe for #kitkat. Not a fan. That's the end of a very long relationship." and "treat yourself to something else. First 2 fingers tasted mostly of nothing, occasionally sugar. Second 2 tasted like soap."

The move to reformulate the Kit Kat comes after the Government's anti-obesity strategy challenged the food and drink industry to reduce the amount of sugar used in products. Although Nestlé claim that the new Kit Kat recipe will remove more than 1,000 tonnes of sugar—equivalent to more than three billion calories—from UK public consumption, it still doesn't meet the Government's recommended sugar reduction target of 20 percent.

But what's probably the most upsetting detail in the whole Kit Kat scandal is the fact that the reformulated recipe will actually only contain four fewer calories than the original.

Is it even worth the pain, Nestlé?