A Hershey’s Symphony chocolate bar buyer was grossed out after accidentally chewing on what she thought was plastic in her candy. Kiki (@yagirl.kikiii) showcased the non-chocolate object in a viral TikTok that’s accrued over 80,000 views.
Numerous users who replied to her video, however, expressed worry that it wasn’t plastic, but human flesh she may have inadvertently consumed.
Symphony of repulsion
Kiki documents her disappointment with the Hershey’s Symphony bar in a text overlay of her video. She writes, “I could never look at my favorite Hershey’s bar again.” As her clip progresses, her written assertion becomes clear.
“Okay, I’m genuinely freaking out right now,” she says. A broken-off piece of the bar rests on the back of the candy’s packaging as she holds something in her hand. However, as she holds her fingers steadily into the camera, it becomes evident she’s holding a clear piece of what appears to be tape. Kiki continues, “I’m actually freaking out.”
Then, she explains what happened to her while enjoying the widely sold candy bar. “So I’m eating the leftover of this freaking Hershey bar. That me and my mother love so dearly. I was eating the second-to-last piece.”
She holds the small rectangle of chocolate up to the camera with the tape on top of it. “This is the last one. And I start feeling something that has lines and like, textures on it. And I’m like you know what… I could really feel the almond.”
Kiki was enjoying the almond variety of the Hershey’s Symphony chocolate bar.
“Whoa, right? You see the chunks and stuff, right?” she says, showing off bits of nuts in the remaining piece of chocolate. “I’m like, ‘Whoa, I feel like the skin and all.”
Chocolate surprise
However, what Kiki was tasting was not an almond.
“Dude this thing starts unraveling, I take it out of my mouth. I’m like what the flip, what is that? This is full on plastic.”
Kiki then brings the inedible object up closer to the screen, which seems to have a serrated texture to it.
Furthermore, she explicated her disgust upon making the discovery she wasn’t eating an almond, but rather a synthetic material.
“I’m sorry, this is so gross,” she goes on. “‘Cause like I literally was chewing on it. But like, what the hell? Like Hershey’s, out of all chocolate bars, Hershey? Plastic, in your freaking, are you kidding me bro? Nah.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only instance where a consumer found a foreign object inside their chocolate bar. Popular budget grocery chain Lidl issued a recall in 2023 over a batch of bars that purportedly contained bits of plastic in them.
Fin Carre Chocolates received a “do not eat” warning from the chain, urging customers who purchased them to seek refunds. According to the Daily Mail, the bars posed a potential choking hazard.
Plastic and cocoa
Another customer also had alarming experience with Cadbury chocolate. While chomping down on a confection, the man noticed its “crunchy bits” were exceptionally crunchy. Like Kiki, he soon learned that he wasn’t biting chopped nuts, but rather plastic fragments.
The man who purchased the Cadbury bar took to Reddit where he uploaded a picture of the bar in question. In the image, he holds up a piece of the dessert, and embedded right inside of it seems to be a bit of blue film. “There’s a piece of plastic inside my chocolate,” he wrote on the app. Newsweek also reported on the same incident.
Other controversies regarding plastic and chocolate have also circulated on the web. However, they pertain to candy wrappers that shroud these beloved cocoa-based snacks. Several “class action lawsuits” were filed against Hershey’s due to reportedly “high levels of PFAS” plastics in packaging.
The motions argue that the massive dessert manufacturer put consumers at risk for its decision to incorporate PFAS materials in its wrappers. These “forever chemicals” have been linked to a slew of potentially deleterious side effects. The Environmental Protection Agency writes that PFAS exposure may lead to the following:
- Reproductive issues
- Developmental delays in children
- Increase risk of prostate, kidney, testicular, and other cancers
- Compromised immune responses
- Hormonal interference
- Cholesterol level increases
The EPA went on to state that children are typically at a higher risk of experiencing symptoms linked to PFAS consumption.
@yagirl.kikiii Why me 😔 why @Hershey’s whyyyyyy #hershey #hersheysymphonychocolate #fyp #plasticpollution #fypシ ♬ original sound – Kikiii
An unsettling theory
Numerous commenters who replied to Kiki’s video stated that they didn’t think she was eating plastic. But rather, a strip of dermal tissue.
“That looks like skin off of someone finger omg,” one remarked.
Someone else echoed the aforementioned sentiment, “THAT IS HUMAN SKIN.”
“That looks like someone’s dried skin huh, get it tested and sue,” another said, suggesting that Kiki seek legal counsel regarding the find.
One user on the application couldn’t understand why Kiki kept touching the foreign object. “WHY DO YOU KEEP TOUCHING IT!! Omg”
Another person on the app also thought that she should get the object analyzed. “Girl you need to put this in a Ziploc bag take it to a laboratory to get it tested and then sue or something,” they wrote. “And keep the Hershey’s wrapper and let me know the barcode in case I need to buy one for the class action lawsuit.”
Others were skeptical of this commenter theory.
One person thought that it was a bit of glove that ripped off and fell into the chocolate mix. “All of you saying it’s skin it’s probably a melted piece of a plastic glove. That’s why it has the finger print,” they suggested.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Kiki via TikTok comment and Hershey’s via email for further information.
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