A leaner KitKat chocolate bar, trimming 10% less sugar off the original recipe, is set to hit stores in the United Kingdom next week.
The legendary four-finger bar had 213 calories; the new and improved one will have…209 calories.
Hey, it’s a start. And it technically is ‘healthier’, right?
Looking at the bigger picture however, Nestle claims the change will cut more than 1000 tonnes of sugar, and three billion calories from the UK’s collective diet.
Nestle has done their best to reassure KitKat diehards that the reduction in sugar won’t come at the expense of that classic taste. But, that’s failed to comfort their legions of loyal eaters.
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“If the taste changes, Nestle, expect us not to buy it. Stop your meddling. We will decide the amount of sugar in our diets, not you,” said one KitKat enthusiast from Australia.
Nestle’s 10% cut isn’t exclusive to KitKats – it’s all part of a larger plan to cut 10% sugar across all of the company’s products by 2018, through reformulation or other methods.
“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?’”, said Fiona Kendrick, chairwoman and chief executive of Nestlé UK and Ireland.
“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.”
Related: Is milk chocolate as healthy as dark chocolate?
That 10% may be small, but it’s significant for Nestle: the sugar slash is the biggest change in the chocolate bar’s history since 1942, when a milk shortage during years of war forced an alteration in recipe.
Photo credit: Yourweekendphotographer/Shutterstock
