Hershey Transitions To Simple Ingredients Pilots SmartLabel QR Code

HERSHEY, PA -- Hershey Co.'s classic Kisses and namesake chocolate bars will be made with simple ingredients and no artificial flavor beginning this holiday season. Holiday Hershey's Kisses packages are also the first to pilot the SmartLabel that allows consumers to scan a QR code to instantly get detailed product information, from ingredient and nutrition facts to allergens.

The new, simple Hershey's Kisses milk chocolates and Hershey's milk chocolate bars are made with fresh milk from local Pennsylvania farms, cocoa beans that Hershey says are sourced responsibly from West Africa, pure cane sugar and natural flavor, with these ingredients reflected on-pack. A video provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Hershey transitioned the recipes:

The SmartLabel QR code is a Web-based platform that allows consumers to access information about products that is not limited by the size and space of packaging. Hershey led the industrywide collaboration to create a universal solution that gives people access to information about where their food comes from and what goes into making it.

"People want to see ingredients that they know and are familiar with in their foods and we're listening," said Mary-Ann Somers, Hershey's vice-president and general manager of U.S. confections.