Yahoo – AFP,
18 Feb 2015
Washington (AFP) - No more artificial flavors and colors in Butterfinger, Babe Ruth or any Nestle chocolate candies in the United States, because Americans want them gone, the Swiss food giant said Tuesday.
Nestle products including Butterfinger, Baby Ruth and Raisinets are seen on a table at Nestlé's 9-month sales press conference in New York on October 22, 2010 (AFP Photo/Stan Honda) |
Washington (AFP) - No more artificial flavors and colors in Butterfinger, Babe Ruth or any Nestle chocolate candies in the United States, because Americans want them gone, the Swiss food giant said Tuesday.
Nestle USA
pledged to remove artificial flavors and government-certified colors from all
its more than 250 products by the end of the year.
"We're
excited to be the first major US candy manufacturer to make this
commitment," said Doreen Ida, president of Nestle USA Confections &
Snacks.
The unit of
the world's leading food company said its customer research on brands like
Butterfinger showed US consumers prefer candy that is free of artificial
flavors and colors.
The company
also cited Nielsen's 2014 Global Health & Wellness Survey, which found more
than an 60 percent of Americans said the absence of artificial colors or
flavors was important to their food purchase decisions.
Nestle USA
said it would replace the artificial flavors, and colors certified as safe by
the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with ingredients from natural
sources.
For
example, annato from the seed of the fruit from the achiote tree will replace
Red 40 and Yellow 5 in Butterfinger's crunchy center. Natural vanilla flavor
will replace artificial vanillin in Crunch.
"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 flavors and colors without
affecting taste or increasing the price."
The
revamped products will begin appearing on store shelves by mid-2015, labeled
"No Artificial Flavors or Colors", the company said.
And all
newly launched chocolate and non-chocolate candy products marketed by Nestle
USA will be made without artificial flavors or colors, it pledged.
The company
also said it is working on removing caramel coloring, used in nine of its
chocolate products.
Caramel
coloring, a common food coloring, is under scrutiny by consumer activists who
say it may cause cancer.
According
to the FDA website, the agency is reviewing data on a chemical compound in
caramel coloring to make sure that its use in food remained safe.
No comments:
Post a Comment