Nestlé adds extra milk and cocoa to KitKats
Nestlé UK and Ireland’s flagship confectionery brand KitKat will contain extra milk and extra cocoa from this week as the food giant continues efforts to reduce sugar.
The improved recipe will see sugar replaced by more milk and cocoa and is being introduced across the KitKat milk chocolate range. The company says it can be identified by newly designed Extra Milk & Cocoa packs that will start appearing on UK shelves from early April.
Earlier this month, Nestlé UK and Ireland revealed it would reduce sugar by 10% across its confectionery portfolio by 2018 through a range of methods that includes reformulation.
Fiona Kendrick, chairman and CEO of Nestlé UK and Ireland, notes, “When we announced that we were removing some of the sugar from our confectionery, the first questions that consumers asked us were: ‘are you going to make things smaller?’ and ‘will it taste the same?’ I’m pleased to say that these products are the same size as the ones they are replacing and taste just as good.”
“Milk and cocoa has formed the basis of the KitKat recipe ever since it was introduced in 1936 so, while people might have been expecting us to add something else, this is a great example of us using our strength in research and innovation to develop a great recipe that replaces sugar with a bit more of the existing, natural ingredients that people know and love.”
The new recipe delivers a small sugar reduction in each product which, when scaled up, is a positive step in reducing the amount of sugar in the UK’s diet overall, the company explains. The move will take out more than 1,000 tonnes of sugar from UK public consumption and will remove more than three billion calories, according to Nestlé.
Nestlé is working on a number of initiatives within its confectionery business to deliver further sugar reductions towards its 10% saving by 2018.
