My first thought upon seeing the Halloween-candy display at my local CVS last week was: Ooh, new treats! Then a second thought barged in: These new treats seemed awfully light on the chocolate. The Hershey’s Nuggets contained a pumpkin-spice-latte cream. The M&M’s were filled with, from what I could tell, berry-flavored peanut butter. And the Ghost Toast Kit Kats were covered not in chocolate, but in a fawn-colored cinnamon coating.

Candy manufacturers release new versions of old sweets all the time, but the timing of these decidedly un-chocolaty varieties is curious: They’ve all launched within the past two years, as the world supply of cocoa beans has dwindled, causing prices to skyrocket. Making cheap chocolate treats is no longer a cheap endeavor—unless they contain less chocolate.

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