Reese's Peanut Butter Cups — DUMP

Munch or Dump rates Reese's Peanut Butter Cups by Reese's DUMP — score 20/90.

It's candy and it knows it — but not the simple kind. The chocolate is stretched with PGPR, the 'peanut butter' is sugar-cut peanut paste preserved with TBHQ, and sweeteners show up three ways. Delicious, lab-stabilized, and past the point where 'simple treat' applies.

Why this verdict

• TBHQ — a petroleum-derived preservative the FDA caps at 0.02% of a food's fat — keeps the filling shelf-stable for months.
• PGPR stands in for expensive cocoa butter in the chocolate — a cost-cutting emulsifier, not an ingredient your kitchen has.
• Multiple sweeteners detected — sweetness engineered, not simple: sugar leads the chocolate, then more sugar and dextrose in the filling.
• The 'peanut butter' is peanuts cut with sugar, dextrose, salt and TBHQ — candy-grade paste, not what you'd spread on toast.
• No health claims made, so no BULLSHIT — but the additive load pushes this past TREAT into DUMP.

Ingredients (8)

• milk chocolate (sugar-first) (moderate) — Legally milk chocolate, but sugar is its first ingredient and PGPR pads out the cocoa butter.
• Peanuts (safe) — Whole-food base: protein, fiber, and mostly mono/polyunsaturated fat.
• Sugar (moderate) — Commonly used sweetener but contributes empty calories.
• Dextrose (caution) — Sweetener #2 — pure fast-absorbing glucose.
• PGPR (polyglycerol polyricinoleate) (caution) — An emulsifier that lets manufacturers use less cocoa butter. Regulatory-safe; a pure cost-engineering ingredient.
• TBHQ (avoid) — Synthetic preservative; a marker of long-shelf-life industrial food, capped by regulators for a reason.
• Soy Lecithin (moderate) — An emulsifier derived from soybeans, generally considered safe but indicative of processing.
• citric acid (safe) — Benign acidity regulator paired with the TBHQ.