Nestle promises to remove artificial flavours from candy products by 2015

Nestle USA has announced that it will take steps to remove artificial flavours and FDA-certified colours from all of its chocolate candy products by the end of 2015.

The company has assured that all artificial flavours and colours including Red 40 and Yellow 5 will be removed from more than 250 products and ten brands such as Nestle Butterfinger, Crunch and Baby Ruth.

The new products will be made available in the markets by mid-2015, and will be identified by a ‘no artificial flavours or colours’ claim featured on every pack.

Nestle will replace these flavours with ingredients from natural sources like in the Butterfinger, Red 40 and Yellow 5 will be replaced by crispety, crunchety center, annatto, which comes from the seeds found in the fruit from the achiote tree. Similarly, artificial vanillin in Crunch will be replaced by natural vanilla flavour.

Nestle USA Confections and Snacks president Doreen Ida said: "Nestle is the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company and our commitment to remove artificial flavours and certified colours in our chocolate candy brands is an important milestone.

"We know that candy consumers are interested in broader food trends around fewer artificial ingredients. As we thought about what this means for our candy brands, our first step has been to remove artificial flavours and colours without affecting taste or increasing the price. We’re excited to be the first major US candy manufacturer to make this commitment."

The company has taken the decision after a research on brands like Butterfinger revealed that US consumers preferred candy brands that were free from artificial flavours and colours.

Nestle Confections and Snacks nutrition, health and wellness manager Leslie Mohr said: "We never compromise on taste. When making these changes to more than 75 recipes, maintaining the great taste and appearance consumers expect from the chocolate brands they know and love is our number one priority."

A few of the brands to be affected by the change are Skinny Cow, Raisinets, Goobers, Sno Caps, 100 Grand, Oh Henry and Chunky.

The company is also working on removing caramel colouring from its chocolate products, which is an exempt-from-certification colour additive and is used in only nine of the more than 250 chocolate products.

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Image: Nestle will remove artifical colours and flavours from more than 250 products and ten brands. Photo: courtesy of Nestle USA.