Toblerone chocolate bars are to lose the image of the Matterhorn mountain in the Alps because the brand’s US owner is moving some production outside of Switzerland.
The change to wrappers will be made to avoid violating the "Swissness Act", which demands that products using such national images are made in the country.
Mondelez International, which produces the triangular treat, revealed last year that it plans to move some Toblerone production to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.
The company is changing the packaging design to depict a more generic mountain rather than the famous Matterhorn, Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung reported.
“The packaging redesign introduces a modernised and streamlined mountain logo that aligns with the geometric and triangular aesthetic,” a Mondelez spokesperson told Aargauer Zeitung. Toblerone packaging will now read “established in Switzerland,” rather than “of Switzerland.”
Under Switzerland’s Swissness Act, passed in 2017, national symbols and Swiss crosses are not permitted on the packaging of products that fail to meet Swissness criteria.
The act states that foodstuffs using Swiss national symbols or claiming to be “Swiss made” must have at least 80 per cent of the product’s raw materials from Switzerland and 100 per cent for milk and dairy products.
Essential work to produce a Swiss-made product must also take place in Switzerland. Exceptions are made for raw materials not found in Switzerland, such as cocoa.
