Nestlé USA announced that it will eliminate artificial flavors and colors from 10 brands comprising over 250 chocolate candy products by the end of 2015. Reformulated products will begin appearing on store shelves mid-year bearing a “No Artificial Flavors or Colors” claim on the label.
The maker of Butterfinger®, Crunch®, and Baby Ruth® pledges to swap artificial ingredients with natural replacements, such as natural vanilla flavor replacing vanillin and annatto replacing Red 40 and Yellow 5.
“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 #1 priority,” said Leslie Mohr, nutrition, health and wellness manager, Nestlé Confections & Snacks. “We conducted consumer testing to ensure the new recipe delivers on our high standards for taste and appearance.”
Though many Nestlé products contain peanuts or tree nuts or are manufactured on shared lines or in shared facilities, we at SnackSafely.com see this as a positive development. Taken together with the recent acquisition of Enjoy Life Foods by Mondelēz, we are hopeful an industry trend toward healthier, more accommodating manufacturing practices is developing.
Hopefully they are not adding more soy lecithin to enhance the natural flavors.