has sparked debate by releasing a chocolate bar which claims to have "only 5 ingredients". However, the packaging names nine ingredents in the full list, leaving baffled online.

The Dark Chocolate and Coconut Date Bar is one of the latest additions to M&S's "Only... ingredients" range. They have previously released cornflakes made from only one ingredient and white bread rolls containg five ingredients. The range was launched last month and each product claims to contain six ingredients or less. M&S is understood to see the range as a way of offering customers the choice to buy products containing only ingredients they would find at home in their cupboard.

The five ingredient coconut date snack is among three chocolate bars in the range. On the packet, M&S has listed dark chocolate as a single ingredient but also listed what makes up the compound - cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier: lecithin (soya), and natural vanilla flavouring.

This would mean the bar is actually made from nine ingredients but M&S argue that these extra ingredients are not found in household store cupboards.

Anthony Warner, a development chef and writer, said on LinkedIn: "Really uncomfortable with this trend. Just five ingredients in this product apparently, although one of thoese is dark chocolate, which is by nature a compound ingredient. Usuing this logic, Dairy Milk is just one ingredient."

He added: "The whole rhetoric around Just X Ingredients purports to be about health and transpareny, yet here's a product that is 56% sugar and 12% saturated fat.

"This is exactly what we warned about when talking about the dangers of UPF categorisation. The system will be gamed and consumers will suffer."

A number of people have since chimed in on the argument. Clinical nutritionist Louis Burrows said: "What was transparency isn't so transparent after all."

A second person wrote: "Can't wait for the one ingredient sugar SKU to drop."

M&S also recently released white bread rolls containing "only five ingredients" but the pack states that the wheat flour is fortified with calcium, iron, vitamin B3 and B1. Meanwhile, the hero product of the new range if a box of corn flakes with corn as its sole ingredient.