Toblerone Can No Longer Legally Use Its Iconic Swiss Mountain Logo

As delicious as chocolate can be (there's science behind our love for chocolate), some of the world's beloved chocolate and candies are distinguishable based on their design as much as for their taste. Toblerone, a chocolate bar made with honey and almond nougat, is notable among chocolate lovers for its triangle-shaped peaks, which resemble mountain peaks. 

The chocolate bar was created in 1908 in the Swiss city of Bern by Theodor Tobler. In 1970, the Swiss alps, Matterhorn, was added to the packaging, further tying the chocolate bar to its Swiss origin. The mountain logo also depicts a bear on the side of the mountain. It pays homage to the Bernese bear and the Swiss capital of Bern, whose name derives from the German word for bear.

In 2016, Toblerone chocolate bars in the United Kingdom were down-sided to have wider "valleys" and shorter "peaks," causing a stir. (Mondelez International, the chocolate company's owner, cited rising cost in ingredients for the change.) Now, the chocolate bar is losing its iconic branding thanks to Swiss law.

Toblerone can no longer be labeled as "Swiss chocolate" or depict its iconic Swiss mountain logo on future packaging. The Swiss flag and other national symbols are restricted on certain products under Swiss legislation, explains CNN. 

Mondelez International, which makes the chocolate bar, recently moved some of its manufacturing to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, CNN explains. This means Toblerone will have to drop the illustration of the Matterhorn mountain from its wrappers. For products to use Swiss symbols, 80% of raw ingredients must be sourced from the country or 100% for milk and dairy products, "with exceptions for ingredients that cannot be sourced from Switzerland, such as cocoa," CNN reports. A majority of the processing must be done in Switzerland as well.

Toblerone won't be ditching its iconic wrapper completely, though. The chocolate bar will now feature a "modernised and streamlined" mountain logo, The Guardian reports. Instead of including the phrase "of Switzerland," the packaging will now read "established in Switzerland."

People are sounding off on social media about the chocolate bar makeover, too. One Twitter user seems content with the changes if Toblerone doesn't remove another beloved iconic piece. "As long as they don't lose the bear!" they tweeted.