The claim

The chocolate manufacturer Ritter Sport has introduced the new variety “Protein Edition Whole Grille with crunchy cricket legs”. It should come onto the market soon.

Our conclusion

This is just a marketing gimmick that was also communicated by Ritter-Sport. The company says it does not use insects in its recipes and has no plans to do so in the future.

After research, it is easy to determine that the German company Ritter Sport had already attracted attention in the past with fake types of chocolate. However, the special editions such as currywurst, stew or spinach that were included were quickly revealed to be a joke.

Cricket variety was taken more seriously

A more plausible announcement that the company has definitely hit a nerve with is the new “Protein Edition Whole Cricket with crunchy cricket legs” variety .

This announcement was followed by many angry customer reactions , which were probably fueled by the fact that a few media outlets reported on the new variety without pointing out the satirical aspect.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

Ritter Sport shows evidence of hoaxes

The company captioned the announcement on its Instagram account with the hashtag #fakesorte to draw attention to the gag.

Here, the company also added the following note in the comments on February 18, 2023:

+++ BREAKING NEWS +++
Ritter Sport “Ganze Grille” exposed as a digital fake variety.
You can leave your house again and enjoy your chocolate without a care in the world. “Whole cricket” isn’t real and can’t hurt you. +++ BREAKING NEWS +++

also explained on Facebook “Ritter Sport currently does not use insects and there are no plans to change this,” said one of the company’s responses to horrified user questions.

Conclusion

Mimikama Rating: SATIRE

The origin of the marketing stunt were the two EU implementing regulations for “partially defatted powder of Acheta domesticus (house cricket)” and “larvae of Alphitobius diaperinus (grain mold beetle) in frozen, paste-like, dried and pulverized form”. These came into force at the end of January 2023 and caused numerous false claims and a lot of unrest online .

Ritter Sport included this with a wink for a marketing campaign.

Source:

DPA

Also read our fact checks:
No fake: EU allows house crickets as a food additive
Mollusks: Insects in food?
Insects: Actually already contained in well-known foods?
“Spanish study” raises fears about eating insects
Gaucher disease is not caused by chitin

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