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The grandson of HB Reese<\/a>, the inventor of Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups, has accused the chocolate giant Hershey of faking a pledge to investors to switch back the recipes of its popular products \u2013 including KitKat \u2013 to the original milk and dark chocolate ones.<\/p>\n A confectionary-focused dust-up between Brad Reese and the $42bn Pennsylvania-based company began in February when Reese, 70, accused the company of \u201cquietly replacing\u201d the ingredients \u2013 or \u201carchitecture\u201d \u2013 in his grandfather\u2019s invention with cheaper \u201ccompound coatings\u201d and \u201cpeanut-butter-style cr\u00e8mes\u201d.<\/p>\n At a recent Hershey investor conference, the company said it would change about 3% of select products to the original recipes but maintained it had never altered the renowned Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s chief growth officer, Stacy Taffet, said Hershey was \u201ctransitioning our sweets portfolio to colors from natural sources, and ensuring that all Hershey\u2019s and Reese\u2019s offerings are consistent with their brand\u2019s classic milk and dark chocolate recipes\u201d. The changes are planned to come into effect by next year.<\/p>\n But Reese accused<\/a> the company of \u201cingredient drift across flagship brands\u201d and described the move \u201cas a board level accountability problem\u201d that caused shareholders to sell stock. \u201cYour consumers are revolting,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Reese further told the New York Times he is not satisfied and the changes were not coming quickly enough. \u201cThis is just a PR stunt; there\u2019s no victory here,\u201d he said in an interview with outlet. \u201cIf they were serious, they would do it right away.\u201d<\/p>\n The company has said the changes were already under way but not in response to Reese\u2019s criticism, saying it had previously decided to revert to classic recipes after seeing a 25% increase in research and development to fund talent, technology and nutrition science.<\/p>\n The issue has become something of a crusade for Reese, who alleges Hershey changed sometime after buying the Reese\u2019s brand in the 1960s.<\/p>\n In his original complaint to the company, issued on Valentine\u2019s Day<\/a> on the LinkedIn social media platform, Reese railed that recipes were \u201cbeing rewritten, not by storytellers, but by formulation decisions that replace Milk Chocolate with compound coatings and Peanut Butter with peanut\u2011butter\u2011style cre\u0300mes\u201d.<\/p>\n