Despar Italia has launched a new range of juices and nectars containing less sugar, consisting of 31 SKUs.
The new recipes are the result of the "Obiettivo Benessere" (Wellness Objective) project, launched in 2018 alongside the Department of Food Science and Pharmacy at the University of Parma.
The project aims to analyse, evaluate and improve the nutritional characteristics of more than 300 Despar and Despar Scelta Verde Bio,Logico brand products across nine different categories.
The reformulation of the recipes was undertaken based on criteria issued by Italy’s Ministry of Health, with a view to improving the nutritional content of food products, especially those targeted at children aged 3 to 12 years.
This includes categories such as soft drinks, ice cream, yogurt, cookies, juices and nectars, cereals, snacks, salty snacks and crackers.
The work carried out by university researchers focused on the saturated fat, sugar, salt and fibre content of Despar brand products, and sought to identify possible recipe improvements.
The result of these insights were new recipes for fruit-based drinks, which now contain less sugar, equal to an annual saving of more than 100 tonnes (based on the previous year's sales volumes). The packaging has also been updated with additional information for shoppers.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
