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After a Deal, British Chocolates Won’t Cross the Pond

British chocolates sold at Carry On Tea & Sympathy include Kit Kats, Toffee Crisps, Yorkies and Cadbury Dairy Milk bars.Credit...Yana Paskova for The New York Times

“Have you tried Hershey’s chocolate?” asked Nicky Perry, a longtime British expatriate living in New York.

“I’d never sell it in my store,” she said, using a string of imaginative expletives to describe how the ubiquitous American chocolate tastes to her.

Ms. Perry, a native of Blackheath, England, owns Tea & Sympathy, a tea shop and restaurant; Carry On Tea & Sympathy, a British goods store; and A Salt & Battery, a fish and chips restaurant, all in Greenwich Village.

As such, she is naturally partial to Maltesers and Flake bars. She is also positively appalled at the notion that some of her beloved chocolates will no longer be available in the United States.

As a result of a settlement with the Hershey’s Company, Let’s Buy British Imports, or L.B.B., agreed this week to stop importing all Cadbury’s chocolate made overseas. The company also agreed to halt imports on KitKat bars made in Britain; Toffee Crisps, which, because of their orange packaging, and yellow-lined brown script, too closely resemble Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups; Yorkie chocolate bars, which infringe on the York peppermint patty; and Ms. Perry’s beloved Maltesers.

“Things in the world are bad enough as it is,” Ms. Perry said, “and now you’re going to take away our chocolate?”

Jeff Beckman, a representative for Hershey’s, said L.B.B. and others were importing products not intended for sale in the United States, infringing on its trademark and trade dress licensing. For example, Hershey’s has a licensing agreement to manufacture Cadbury’s chocolate in the United States with similar packaging used overseas, though with a different recipe.

“It is important for Hershey to protect its trademark rights and to prevent consumers from being confused or misled when they see a product name or product package that is confusingly similar to a Hershey name or trade dress,” Mr. Beckman said in an email.

What many Britons and British-chocolate lovers are most incensed about is the difference in taste between chocolate made in Britain and chocolate made in the United States.

Chocolate in Britain has a higher fat content; the first ingredient listed on a British Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (plain milk chocolate) is milk. In an American-made Cadbury’s bar, the first ingredient is sugar.

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Nicky Perry, who owns Tea & Sympathy in Manhattan, will be affected by a settlement in which all Cadbury’s chocolate made overseas will not be imported to the United States.Credit...Yana Paskova for The New York Times

American Cadbury bars include PGPR and soy lecithin, both emulsifiers that reduce the viscosity of chocolate, giving it a longer shelf life. British Cadbury bars also use PGPR, as well as vegetable fats.

An informal blind taste test comparing Cadbury Dairy Milk bars — muddled by this reporter’s garlicky lunch — suggested that Ms. Perry had reason to be upset.

The British Dairy Milk was slightly fudgier, allowing for a creamier taste and texture. The American Dairy Milk bar left a less pleasing coating and somewhat of a stale aftertaste.

Another retailer of British goods, who wished to remain anonymous because she feared reprisal from Hershey’s, said she imagined she would go out of business soon.

“Cadbury’s is about half of my business,” she said, while eating leftover Cadbury’s Christmas chocolate, “and more than that at Christmas. I don’t know how we’ll survive.”

She said she tried to import chocolate herself, but it required dealing with the Food and Drug Administration, as well as customs and the country’s Department of Agriculture, which got to be very complicated.

And because Hershey’s is looking to stop the sale of all Cadbury’s chocolate and the other bars in the United States, it might not help her to import the chocolate herself.

Mick McGurk, a London native who now lives in Houston, was visiting Carry On Tea & Sympathy on Friday and said Hershey’s was the one at fault.

“It may sound a bit childish, but they should make it the same and not cheapen it with those additives,” Mr. McGurk said.

Gail Maddick, who moved to Forest Hills, Queens, from Scotland last year, agreed, and suggested British expatriates take their grievances right to the top.

“What would Her Majesty think about all this?”

A correction was made on 
Feb. 20, 2015

An article on Jan. 24 about a settlement in which the company Let’s Buy British Imports agreed to stop importing Cadbury’s chocolate omitted one use of PGPR, an emulsifier. Besides being used in American Cadbury chocolate bars, it is also present in British Cadbury chocolates under the name E476.

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A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 16 of the New York edition with the headline: After a Deal, British Chocolates Won’t Cross the Pond. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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