As I understand it, European and British food regulations are far stricter when it comes to chocolate than US regs. I doubt Kraft or any other American company could just impose an American recipe on the European market, much as they'd love to. Yep, British chocolate bars taste far better than their US equivalents (plus have what the industry calls a superior "mouthfeel"), and Belgian and Swiss chocolates are excellent. I always thought it odd that the best chocolate confections were made far, far away from where cacao actually grows.
US mass-marketed chocolate tastes very waxy and isn't up to international standards. Then again, it isn't regulated to nearly those standards. That's why I almost exclusively buy chocolate from small chocolate makers or small chocolatiers (resellers of others' fine chocolate).
San Francisco had a brief collective heart attack when Hershey's bought both
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker and
Joseph Schmidt Confections, two of the finest boutique chocolate houses in all of North America. Whilst Hershey's didn't completely ruin Scharffen Berger, they did eliminate Schmidt 6 months ago. It had been a Castro institution.
The New York Times ran
a piece a couple of years ago about the best chocolates in the world; top honors went to Galler Chocolatier. The first Galler retail outlet in the US was right here on Las Olas Blvd in Fort Lauderdale; I still buy chocolate there occasionally, but at $58 a pound (£79/kilo or 91/kilo) it's a rare treat. They're well-known for their
Kattentongen/Langue de Chat line.
I think Britain and the rest of Europe, at least the EU, are pretty well protected on their chocolate quality, but expect any American company to push the envelope on what they can get away with to reduce costs and maximize profits.