ABOUT

FEEDS

CONTACT

  • .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
  • Here are some frequently asked questions emailed to me you might want to read first.

EMAIL DIGEST

    For a daily update of Candy Blog reviews, enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

CANDY RATINGS

TYPE

BRAND

COUNTRY

ARCHIVES

July 2006

Sunday, July 9, 2006

Cadbury May Face Charges

Cadbury may face formal charges in reference to the Salmonella montevideo contamination of their chocolate. Either the FSA (Food Safety Authority) or one of the municipalities that cover the factory of Cadbury may charge them for knowingly distributing food products unfit for human consumption.

Even though they recalled the offending product, Cadbury has been criticized for unsafe practices, including distributing their chocolate crumb to other factories for use before testing showed the it was safe, possibly leading to contamination of other factory products.

In the mean time the factory in question is being closed and completely cleaned, which may take months.

Cadbury’s sales are off since the recall notice. Nearly four times as many Salmonella montevideo infections were confirmed in the period that the contaminated bars were on the market than in previous periods.

Full story.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:29 am     News

Saturday, July 8, 2006

Limited Edition Column

Consumed - NY Times Magazine
Short and Sweet
by Rob Walker

Rob Walker sums up the current limited edition fad in the candy industry (with a pretty funny little illustration by Leif Parsons) with some great insights. Oh, and expert commentary from me and Brian at Candy Addict (oh, and Susan Fussell from the National Confectioners Association).

Dig in, it’s for a limited time only!

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:37 pm     Limited EditionNews

Friday, July 7, 2006

Nestle Experiencing KitKat Slump

The Wall Street Journal recently published a story about how Nestle is experiencing a decline in sales for the revered KitKat bar. Part of this may be due to the dilution of the brand with all the limited edition flavors and shapes.

image

Flavor experiment for KitKat leaves Nestl? with a bad taste by Deborah Ball, Wall Street Journal

Sales for 2005 were down over 16% from 2004 while Cadbury and Masterfoods bars have been gaining marketshare. What plays in the UK may not hold true with other markets, however.

Personally, I enjoy the limited edition flavored bars, but I wish they were seasonal - you know, that there were a dependable schedule so that I could get them every year, even if the strawberry was only a summertime thing.

Along that note, watch the New York Times Magazine this weekend ... I have it on good authority that there will be an article about limited edition candy bars there, too.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:32 pm     CandyReviewKitKatNews

Factory Follow-Ups

Here’s the follow-up on the previous stories about health and safety of various chocolate products:

The Mars factory in Oak Brook, Il reopened on July 4th after passing another inspection.

Parent company Masterfoods USA issued a statement Monday: “Consumers can be assured that this brief stoppage has not impacted the quality of our products.”

Um,  yeah, I wasn’t worried about the stoppage impacting the quality ... it was the mouse turds I was concerned with.

See story here.

The more recent news out of the UK over the Cadbury Salmonella montevideo contamination is more complex. More testing is being performed on recalled items as well as products that were not included in the initial recall and the Freddo bar has been deemed safe.

But other reports are mentioning that Cadbury may have sold some of the raw product to other manufacturers (not uncommon as there are very few actual chocolate factories in the world). Cadbury has agreed to a complete cleaning of their facility and production line ... which I find surprising that they haven’t already done that. What’s more, once the crumb is used in other manufacturing elsewhere, it could contaminate other production lines.

It seems the one lesson Cadbury has learned is that they need to improve their testing. They did update their recall list and took some of the Freddos (but not all) off but added the Dairy Milk Mint 250 g bar. See article here.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:42 am     News

P-Nuttles

P Whattles? P-Nuttles! I make fun of it, but it’s really a pretty cool name for a candy.

Sometimes I forget about the blessed simplicity of some classic candies.

imageP-Nuttles are one of those. Turning over the simple orange foil package I looked at the ingredients: peanuts, sugar, butter, salt. That’s it!

The uneven looking little morsels are simply panned peanuts coated with a crunchy toffee. Sweet with a solid salty hit, they’re dependably tasty. No worries if you come across a nut that’s lost its toffee coat, that means more crunchy shell at the bottom of the package.

These are great to put on ice cream or of course a good summertime sweet that won’t melt.

After my bad peanut experience yesterday, I was very happy with these. Not a bad nut in the bag, and considering how many that was, those are good odds. The only problem I have with them is that I have no idea where to buy them. I’m going to have to keep my eyes open for sightings in the wild, but at least I know I can get them online. I wouldn’t be surprised to find them at 99 Cent stores, as I’ve often found Cup-O-Gold there.

Name: P Nuttles
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Adams & Brooks, Inc.
Place Purchased: All Candy Expo sample
Price: MSRP $.85
Size: 1.9 ounces
Calories per ounce: 142
Categories: Peanuts, Toffee, United States, Adams & Brooks

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:18 am    

Page 4 of 6 pages ‹ First  < 2 3 4 5 6 > 

Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.

 

 

 

 

Facebook IconTwitter IconTumblr IconRSS Feed IconEmail Icon

COUNTDOWN.

Candy Season Ends

-2548 days

Read previous coverage

 

 

Which seasonal candy selection do you prefer?

Choose one or more:

  •   Halloween
  •   Christmas
  •   Valentine's Day
  •   Easter

 

image

ON DECK

These candies will be reviewed shortly:

 

 

image