29 Oct Nestlé UK to reformulate KitKat in salt-fat reduction pledge

Nestlé UK and Ireland is reformulating its iconic KitKat bar, which will result in the removal of 3,800 tons of saturated fat from the public’s diet, improving the nutritional profile of the product.

This reformulation means over a billion KitKat bars a year will have an improved recipe and is the result of three years of challenging research and development led by the Nestlé Innovation team based in York, the home of KitKat, reports the company.

The news of this achievement coincided with the UK Department of Health announcing its new Responsibility Deal Pledge on saturated fats, of which Nestlé is a signatory.

Ciaran Sullivan, MD of Nestle Confectionery said: “This is the next step on the journey where we are improving the nutritional profile of our products. KitKat is our biggest confectionery brand and therefore the obvious choice to identify a sat fat reduction.

“Improving the nutritional profile of KitKat does not come at the expense of quality and taste and consumers will continue to enjoy the same KitKat as they have for over 75 years.”

The reformulated KitKats will be made in the Nestlé Confectionery factory in York and will be available early next year. The reduction has been made by changing the recipe of the wafer filling in the UK-made KitKat.

It adds that this reformulation is another step in Nestlé’s on-going commitment to improve its products’ nutritional composition. Nestlé has made many pioneering improvements within its confectionery portfolio, which have been on-going for many years.

All Nestlé confectionery chocolate biscuit bars are low in salt and meet the Responsibility Deal 2012 salt targets. Nestlé has also reduced the portion size of many of its products such as KitKat, Aero, Yorkie, Lion Bar, and Rolo and committed to expanding its range of 99 calorie biscuit bars. In 2012 three new products were added to this range including Blue Riband Caramel, Aero Biscuit Peppermint and Aero Biscuit Orange.