Nestlé removes all artificial additives from confectionery

Nestlé has removed artificial additives from all its confectionery lines in the UK and Ireland to steal a march on Kraft and Mars.

More than 80 artificial ingredients have been replaced with natural alternatives to make the 79 products in Nestlé’s UK confectionery portfolio, including Aero, Smarties and Rowntree’s, free of artificial additives.

Nestlé UK set out to remove artificial colours, flavours and preservatives from Kit Kat and all its kids’ products in 2005 and later extended the goal to its entire confectionery range.

The solution varied from product to product. For Smarties it meant using extracts of red cabbage, lemon, hibiscus and radish to recreate bright colours, while for Rowntree’s, artificial preservatives were removed by storing manufacturing ingredients in a fridge.

The last product to be converted was chocolate rice bar Nestlé Crunch. This took longer as it was manufactured in Italy, and Nestlé had to ensure its new recipe went down well with consumers in all markets.

Mars and Kraft-owned Cadbury have both taken steps to cut down on artificial ingredients.

Mars has removed all artificial colours and flavourings from its chocolate bars - although it uses additives in other chocolate and sweet products. For example, Skittles contain artificial colours such as ‘brilliant blue’ additive E133.

Cadbury removed all artificial colours from its products after the Food Standards Agency published the so-called Southampton study in 2007 that linked six artificial colours with hyperactivity in young children.

But while The Natural Confectionery Company products are free from artificial additives, Cadbury continues to use artificial flavours in some products, including Cadbury Creme Egg.