Confectionery giant Mondelēz International has added eight non-HFSS (high in fat, salt, or sugar) products to its range of goods across the UK and Ireland.
The products have been launched under a number of the group's brands including belVita, Cadbury Drinking Chocolate, Maynards Bassetts, and The Natural Confectionery Company.
Non-HFSS Product Range
The move is part of the business’s ambition to ‘offer the right snack, for the right moment’, and offers consumers more choice when it comes to choosing healthier snacks.
Committed to 'Mindful Snacking', the business has invested in wellbeing choices for consumers, from launching portion-control pack formats to adding Snack Mindfully icon to all packs, as well as providing nutritional information.
Louise Stigant, UK managing director at Mondelēz International, said, “I’m proud of the non-HFSS ranges that we are developing in categories such as biscuits, confectionary and drinking chocolate. This is a result of a significant amount of work and investments that we have made to find opportunities to innovate and reformulate products so that we can give consumers more choice."
Teams of product creators at Mondelēz also developed non-HFSS products for its candy brands in the form of Maynards Bassetts Wine Gums Juicies, Maynards Bassetts Sports Mix Juicies, and The Natural Confectionery Co. Juicy Snakes, each of which includes 30% less sugar.
These new launches contain fruit juice, natural colours, and flavours.
Read More: Smaller, Thinner, Less Sweet Snacks? Mondelēz Makes Health Drive
Outlook
In 2023, Mondelēz International will continue its journey to offer consumers greater choice, including offering products with improved nutritional profiles, by reformulating its Cadbury Drinking Chocolate and Cadbury Instant Hot Chocolate packs to make them non-HFSS.
This move compliments the existing non-HFSS products it already offers in the category, including Bournville Cocoa, Cadbury Highlights Milk Choc, Highlights Bournville, Green & Blacks Cocoa, and Green & Blacks Hot Chocolate.
All these new products are made possible thanks to the significant R&D footprint Mondelēz International has in the UK across Bournville and Reading which are home to two of 15 global research hubs Mondelēz International runs worldwide.
The business is reformulating products where possible to give consumers a broad portfolio of choice for different needs and occasions.
However, reformulating chocolate is very difficult given the role that sugar plays in the product, contributing to the texture, bulk, and structure as well as the taste, the company noted.
Chocolate formulation is also prescribed by statute, which prohibits the use of starch, artificial sweeteners, polyols, and other sugar substitutes.
