The health-conscious consumer is driving food companies to review their age-old processes of making their products. Joining the club is the Swiss chocolate maker Nestle SA. The company says it is launching a 70% dark chocolate that will contain as much as 40% less sugar. This is being done by not adding any sugar to the process and by using the pulp from the cocoa plants for sweetening.
This is the first time the company is attempting something like this. The leftover cocoa plants used to be thrown away in the process followed so far.
This new production technique is being patented by Nestle SA and the first market to be tested with this Kit Kat 70% dark chocolate with no added sugar, will be Japan. The patent is for turning the pulp that covers the cocoa plant into a powder and using it in the production of the chocolate. This pulp has a natural sweet taste to it thus obviating the need for adding sugar to the chocolate mix. The company’s spokesperson has said their other products, like white chocolates and milk chocolates too can be made in the same ‘no added sugar’ process and sold.
Nestle SA is reacting to the overall trend in the food industry which is constantly being reminded of the ill-effects of consuming sugar. Much of the reason for obesity in the population and the resultant negative health outcomes is attributed to consumption of sugar in excessive quantities. For bulk manufacturers like Nestle, it has been a huge challenge since any substitute for sugar is highly expensive and sugar is the cheapest sweetener.
The Nestle spokesperson claims using pulp means it is a premium product. This will come under increasing scrutiny as details of the cost incurred in the conversion of pulp is shared. However, the direction the industry is headed is definitely towards lesser sugar consumption.
Apart from health experts, even governments across the world have woken up to the negative aspects of sugar and are advocating alternative methods to avoid it.