
Audio By Carbonatix
Nestle has introduced a new chocolate bar without added sugar, as the company tries to stay ahead of changing consumer tastes and trends.
The Swiss company announced Tuesday a new KitKat bar that distills its sweet flavor from a cocoa fruit without any added refined sugar. The 70% dark chocolate bar is made using the entire cacao fruit, including the pulp around the cacao bean that is typically thrown away.
Using a new patented technique, Nestle is turning the pulp into a powder and adding that to chocolate as a sweetener instead of refined sugar. Nestle says the powdered pulp is sweet thanks to its fructose, a type of sugar from fruit. The company claims the new chocolate has "no compromise on taste, texture and quality."
The KitKat will go on sale in Japan later this year before expanding globally in 2020.
The innovation comes as consumers are shying away from processed sugar, according to Gustavo Setrini, an assistant professor of food studies at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development.
"Consumers are very concerned about the health characteristics of their food, and also of environmental and social impact, now more than ever," he told CNN Business.
But, he noted, the new KitKat isn't "substantially healthier," because it still contains sugar. Although the new bar contains the fruit-derived fructose, regular chocolate bars are loaded with sucrose, an unhealthier type of sugar.
"It's sugar, just from another source," he said.
Still, Satrini said the new bar is better for you compared to a regular KitKat bar because it's 70% dark chocolate, which contains more health benefits than other chocolate types like milk chocolate.
In addition to shifting consumer habits, Nestle and other cocoa manufacturers need to innovate because of global warming and other threats to their cocoa supply.
Mondelez International, which makes Toblerone, Cadbury and Milka, announced in April an increase in funding for Cocoa Life, its program that provides educational and financial support to cocoa farmers in order to improve crop yield.
Climate change is "clearly something that we need to pay significant attention to," Mondelez CEO Dirk Van de Put previously told CNN Business. Over the past several years, he added, Mondelez has seen more variability in crops and unexpected cost inflation driven by climate change.
Latest Stories
-
Atletico Madrid stun 10-man Barcelona to seize Champions League semi-final advantage
21 minutes -
Black Stars coach to be announced by next week – Sports Minister
31 minutes -
Chiefs, queen mothers and principal elders of Odau group denounce ‘rebellious Etweresohene’, pledges allegiance to Okyenhene
38 minutes -
KNUST library dress code sparks online backlash over strict rules
46 minutes -
Cultural Diplomacy in Action: Ghanaian youth leaders present symbolic smock to U.S. Chargé d’Affaires
48 minutes -
Ghana Card payment activation under review – NIA breaks silence on financial integration
1 hour -
Ofori-Atta’s ICE release on bail positive; he poses no risk – Amanda Clinton
1 hour -
Ken Ofori-Atta’s passport seized after bail, set to reappear in US Court on April 27
1 hour -
Stuck contraceptives risk HIV surge – Ghana HIV/AIDS Network President warns
1 hour -
Edmond Boateng elected Secretary of Honorary Consular Corps of Ghana
2 hours -
Omanhene Kwabena Asante slams GIADEC CEO over alleged discrimination in mining concessions
2 hours -
Majority of Ghanaian importers lack awareness of cargo insurance – Gyampo
2 hours -
GJA Ashanti applauds Asantehene for securing land for new press centre
2 hours -
CIMAF Ghana donates cement to Afua Kobi SHS
3 hours -
Ghana to benefit from France’s National health platform following Paris talks
3 hours