Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., joked Monday about using the Defense Production Act to save Klondike's Choco Taco after the company announced it would stop making the frozen treat.
"Tomorrow I am introducing legislation to invoke the Defense Production Act to mandate the continued manufacture of Choco Tacos," Murphy quipped on Twitter following Klondike's announcement that it was discontinuing the item. "Please call your Senator and demand they co-sponsor."
Owned by international conglomerate Unilever, Klondike said in a Twitter post Monday that it would stop making Choco Tacos after almost 40 years since its 1984 debut.
"Unfortunately, the Klondike Choco Taco has been discontinued," the post Monday said. "We've experienced an unprecedented spike in demand across our portfolio and have had to make very tough decisions to ensure availability of our full portfolio nationwide. We're very sorry for any disappointment."
Klondike's parent, Unilever, operates in 190 countries with 148,000 employees worldwide, according to the Unilever website.
"Creating a stable of the world's most purposeful brands, proving that sustainable business drives better performance, and being a beacon for diversity and inclusion — these are the things we want Unilever to be famous for," CEO Alan Jope said on the website.
On Monday, the company reported an "underlying sales growth" of 8.1% for the first half of 2022.
"Unilever has delivered a first half performance which builds on our momentum of 2021, despite the challenges of high inflation and slower global growth," Unilever said in a press release Monday. "Underlying sales growth of 8.1% was driven by strong pricing to mitigate input cost inflation, which, as expected, had some impact on volume. We are now raising our sales guidance for the year. Underlying operating margin was on track at 17% for the first half."
The ice cream part of the company grew by a "high-single digit," with the growth coming from the "out-of-home" business, according to the company.
"Ice cream suffered from supply issues in the United States," the company said. "In-home sales were slightly up, although volumes declined in Europe and North America where markets contracted as a result of some post-Covid channel switching by consumers."
The Snopes fact-checking website initially rated the claim of the Choco Taco being discontinued as "false," only to have to reverse its rating after Klondike formally announced the change.
"When we reached out to Unilever, the company that owns Klondike, a spokesperson confirmed to us that the Choco Taco, which was invented in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1984, had been discontinued," the website said.
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