Nestlé UK and Ireland continues to reduce sugar in its products

Nestlé UK and Ireland has revealed it has cut sugar across its confectionery portfolio in the last year by 7.4%, as it aims to reach a 10% reduction by the end of 2018.

Thanks to an ongoing reformulation programme, Nestlé said the amount of sugar in its UK and Irish products “has been reduced by more than 2.6 billion teaspoons since 2015”.

Elsewhere, Nestlé breakfast cereals is also working to reduce average sugar by 10% across its portfolio by the end of the year, while Nestlé Waters has today announced that Sanpellegrino sparkling fruit-based beverages will see a 40% reduction in sugar in the coming months.

Two years of work behind the Sanpellegrino reformulation has meant that, following an initial 10% reduction of the total sugar content in 2015, the latest recipes will contain approximately 40% less sugar thanks to the replacement of sugar with stevia.

The news follows an the news in 2016 in which Nestlé claimed to have made a “major breakthrough” that could reduce the amount of sugar in its chocolate bars by 40%.

Last year Nestlé launched a protein-enriched Yorkie bar with reduced sugar to tap into increased consumer interest in protein.

Nestlé UK and Ireland CEO Stefano Agostini said: “Our work towards these achievements is actually as much about taste as it is about reducing sugar and calories. It is not as simple as just removing sugar from a product, the skill is in making that product taste just as good or, ideally, better. We have an unrivalled research and development network across the globe that makes this possible.

“People love our food and drink and our confectionery, cereals, ice creams and other products are enjoyed as part of a balanced, healthy diet by people all across the world. What we can do, through research and development, is improve them in both taste and nutrition over time.

“Sanpellegrino is very close to my heart, I was its president and CEO for ten years and I love the brand. I can tell you that the reduced sugar fruit-based drinks announced today taste every bit as good as the ones they are replacing and that is thanks to the hard work of our experts.”