Mildly Interesting

A high quality chocolate bar, at that.

I don't think they've done something exactly like this, but they have aggressively tackled obesity in recent years, going as far as labeling all foods with excess fats, salt, and sugar. It's very visible on the package and it does influence what I buy.

But this is the way I found out we're doing this now. 😅

Government should probably provide the cheapest food and set the standard.

However ideology like this leads to issues in reality.

If a competitor gets lower prices would hint at some questionability. Government correction becomes suppression. Suppression leads to . . .?

Reducing obesity.

Cacao is a national treasure, and America floods Mexico with Hershey's, Snickers, and other subpar "chocolate" and destroys local competition with cheap prices.

Fun fact:

The word "chocolate" is derived from the Nahuatl word Xocholatl (chikola-tl).

Mexico has been trying a lot to reduce obesity through various product labeling. This looks like a step in that direction; a snack that uses an indigenous ingredient (chocolate) in a manner that complies with federal guidelines.

Try chocolate that wasn't made in America... Then imagine living a country with some of the best ingredients for chocolate making, and only seeing American chocolate on your store shelves... If capitalism is breaking stuff, the government is pretty much the only ones that can fix it. Though when the government is the thing that capitalism is breaking, I can see why you might not want them to do more than they currently do.

Government is supposed to be about pooling money so it can be more efficiently and effectively spent. Economies of scale. Even if the government only half does what you want and half does stuff you don't care about, you are still getting better bang for your buck than if you tried to use your own tiny amounts of money to buy the half you do want.

Governments subsidize foods all the time. Yours probably does, too.

Mexico already has Welfare Stores, and this bar is being made in co-op with Food for Wellness.

https://www.informador.mx/mexico/Chocolate-del-Bienestar-en-ESTAS-tiendas-podras-comprarlo-20250710-0131.html

I don't follow Mexican politics closely, but this could be part of an effort to curb obesity. I've heard they introduced taxes on sugary drinks for this, so this might be another avenue.

If people are wanting cheap snacks, and private companies are only making unhealthy ones, you can introduce regulations to micromanage what they can produce, or you can introduce a complex taxation process to disincentivize sugar snacks. Or you can introduce your own product that meets a perceived unmet demand in an underserved market.

Government is the things we choose to do together. If the people choose healthy chocolate, then that's the job.

Others say it's to fight chiodhood obesity, kids dont tend to like dark/good chocolate.

I would presume it's because they're low in sugar. Due to exploding diabetes rates, Mexico has been making a concerted effort in the last few years to stem the consumption of sugary foods, drinks and snacks, particularly amongst kids. You can't have a cartoon mascot on a box of cereal, for example. They put big stickers over Tony the Tiger before changing the packaging completely. And the cost of snack foods has skyrocketed, making it largely unaffordable for lots of Mexican families. A bag of chips there costs more than it does in North America.

My guess is that this is part of that effort.

Better than the US.