The “key ingredient” is “gum arabic”.
"Gum arabic, a vital ingredient used in everything...."
The identity of this secret isn't what makes this article worth reading.
And also probably because the article is featured on general audience site rather than a scientific or culinary journal.
I get that people hate clickbait headlines but this is hardly misleading, impossibly vague nor exaggerated.
In short, that’s not an improvement.
This is a classic case of the HN crowd not understanding that different audiences are interested in different details.
And it's two words, you could make other cuts if you want.
However, at this point, you arguing a matter of taste.
I don't think Coca-Cola or M&Ms are relevant to the article itself. Gum arabic isn't that uncommon. I mean, this is a largely software developer focused crowd and a lot of people here were like "Ah, gum arabic".
i was more interested in what the ingredient was. the fact its being smuggled (a) doesn’t surprise me and (b) isn’t something im particularly interested in learning about.
so, in this case, it wasn’t worth opening the article for me. i learned what i wanted to learn during my normal comment scan that i usually do with titles like this (outside my wheel house).
I don't read all the news in the world, I don't even read all the news on HN. Having that extra bit of info helps me decide whether to read the article.