The consumer craving for more natural and healthier ingredients has spread to junk food, as Nestle SA announced it would remove the artificial colors and flavors from its Butterfinger and Crunch candy bars as well as other chocolates in the United States.
Nestle in a prepared statement said it has worked for over a year on eliminating food colorings such as Yellow 5 and Red 40, and flavorings such as vanillin from over 250 chocolate products. These changes will go into effect before the end of 2015.
The change makes the U.S. unit of Nestle in Switzerland, with over sales of over $10 billion, the first major candy maker in the U.S. to remove the artificial ingredients, although there are others working on it as well.
Neilsen the market research company found in its recent study that over 60% of people in the U.S. say that the elimination of artificial flavors and colors is important in their decision when purchasing foods.
A spokesperson for Nestle said the company is aware that consumers of their candy are interested on a wider range of food trends around less artificial ingredients. The company thought about how that affects its candy brands, and the first step take is eliminating all artificial colors flavors, concluded the statement.
Nestle made that change between 2005 and 2013 in the UK. Paul Grimwood the U.S. CEO was in charge of that effort and he pushed the same issue for the U.S. since he took over during October of 2012, said a spokesperson.
Nestle said that natural vanilla flavor would replace its vanillin in its Crunch bars. Annatto comes from the seeds of an achiote tree, and will replace food colorings in Butterfinger bars. While the change is more expensive, the company said it would not increase its price of candy because of it.
