Just in time for Easter, Nestlé USA has announced an expansion of its commitment to sourcing sustainable cocoa through its global Nestlé Cocoa Plan. This year Nestlé, in partnership with UTZ Certified, has purchased enough certified cocoa to produce its entire Easter chocolate collection, marking a first for a major U.S. candy manufacturer.
According to the National Confectioners Association, Easter is the second-largest candy-buying holiday behind Halloween. Additionally, in a recent survey1, nearly 80 percent of consumers said that they would prefer to purchase chocolate products made with sustainable cocoa if they were easy to find and didn’t cost more.
In 2013, Nestlé launched its global Nestlé Cocoa Plan in the U.S. by purchasing sustainable cocoa equal to the amount needed to produce its Crunch bars. Since then, Nestlé USA has increased its commitment to sustainable cocoa purchased each year and says it will continue to do so until all of its confectionery products in the U.S. are made with sustainable cocoa.
In addition to Nestlé’s growing companywide commitment to sustainable cocoa in its chocolate candy business, Nestlé USA boldly committed last month to replace all artificial flavors and FDA-certified colors in all of its chocolate candy products with their natural counterparts by the end of 2015. The company said new versions of over 250 products from 10 brands — including Nestlé Crunch, Butterfinger, Baby Ruth, Skinny Cow, Raisinets, Goobers, Sno Caps, 100 Grand, Oh Henry and Chunky — will begin appearing on store shelves by Summer 2015, and will be identified by a “No Artificial Flavors or Colors” claim on-pack.
1Research conducted by Golin and uSamp, October 1–10, 2014, included an online survey of 1,110 moms and has a 2.94 margin of error.
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Published Mar 13, 2015 2am EDT / 11pm PDT / 6am GMT / 7am CET