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Nestlé Ireland Takes Sat Fat Action

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Dublin

Nestlé Ireland today announced that it is reformulating its iconic KIT KAT bar, which will result in the removal of approximately 200 tonnes of saturated fat from the Irish national diet, improving the nutritional profile of the product. 

This reformulation is the result of three years of challenging research and development led by the Nestlé Innovation team based in York, England the home of KIT KAT.

Deirdre O’Donoghue, Country Manager, Nestlé Ireland said: “This is the next step on the journey where we are improving the nutritional profile of our products.   KIT KAT is our biggest confectionery brand in Ireland and therefore the obvious choice to identify a sat fat reduction.  Improving the nutritional profile of KIT KAT does not come at the expense of quality and taste and Irish consumers will continue to enjoy the same KIT KAT as they have for over 75 years.”
 
The reformulated KIT KATs will be available in Ireland from early next year.  The reduction has been made by changing the recipe of the wafer filling in the KIT KAT.
 
This reformulation is another step in Nestlé’s on-going commitment to improve its products’ nutritional composition.  Nestlé has made many pioneering improvements within its confectionery portfolio, which have been on-going for many years.   All Nestlé confectionery chocolate biscuit bars have undergone salt reduction and are low in salt content.  Nestlé has also reduced the portion size of many of its products such as Aero, Yorkie, Lion Bar, and Rolo and committed to expanding its range of 99 calorie biscuit bars.   In 2012 new products were added to this range including Aero Biscuit Peppermint and Aero Biscuit Orange.

For information:
Siobhan Molloy/Norman Pratt:  (01) 6798600 or 086 817 50 66
Weber Shandwick PR

Note to Editor:

  • KIT KAT is the most global confectionery brand in the world sold in more countries than any other – 17.8 billion fingers eaten a year
  • Over a billion KIT KAT bars a year are certified Fairtrade starting with KIT KAT 4-Finger in 2010.  In January 2013, an additional 800 million a year of KIT KAT 2-Finger Fairtrade certified bars are manufactured which are now Fairtrade certified making it the biggest Fairtrade product only second to bananas.
  • The fat reduction has been made by changing the oil that is used to make the wafer filling – this new oil is of palm origin and is from a segregated, traceable and sustainable source.
  • In 2012, Nestlé Confectionery UK became the first major confectioner to announce the removal of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives from its entire confectionery range.
  • Over a billion KIT KAT bars are made in the York factory per year – the site can make up to 6 million a day.
  • Nestlé were the first confectionery company to include calories front of pack on confectionery in 2005. In 2006 we were one of the first manufacturers to introduce full GDA labelling on the front of pack.
  • All Nestlé confectionery chocolate biscuit bars are low salt, which means they will be labelled green within the salt lozenge as part of the front of pack scheme when they carry 5 GDA/RI icons.