Switzerland’s famed chocolate brand Toblerone will no longer feature the iconic Matterhorn mountain peak on its packaging.
The mountain will no longer appear on the packaging as the brand’s owner, Mondelez International, plans to move some production outside of Switzerland to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.
Toblerone will now be ‘established in Switzerland’
The move followed a redesign of the Toblerone packaging to avoid violation of Switzerland’s Swissness Act, which prohibits the use of national symbols and Swiss crosses on products that don’t meet “Swissness” criteria.
The Swissness Act requires food products claiming to be “Swiss made” to have at least 80 percent of their raw materials come from Switzerland and for essential work to produce a Swiss-made product to take place in Switzerland.
Exceptions are made for raw materials that are not available in Switzerland, such as cocoa.
The new design of the Toblerone packaging will feature a more generic mountain instead of the Matterhorn, and the packaging will now read “established in Switzerland” instead of “of Switzerland,” according to a report by Bloomberg.
“The packaging redesign introduces a modernised and streamlined mountain logo that aligns with the geometric and triangular aesthetic,” a Mondelez spokesperson said.
The decision to move some production outside of Switzerland has been met with criticism from some Swiss citizens, who see it as a threat to Swiss identity and quality.
However, Mondelez has stated that the move is necessary to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
This is not the first time that Toblerone has faced controversy over its packaging.
In 2016, the company sparked outrage among consumers when it changed the design of its chocolate bars, reducing the number of triangles and increasing the space between them to reduce the weight of the bars. The move was seen as a cost-cutting measure, and many consumers felt that they were getting less chocolate for the same price.
However, despite the controversies, Toblerone remains a popular chocolate brand around the world.
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