Food and beverage giant Nestle has decided to abandon its range of chocolate using a new low sugar technique less than two years following its launch due to weak sales.
According to Nestle, it decided to drop its Milkybar Wowsomes low sugar chocolate bars due to "underwhelming" demand for the product resulting to weak sales. The chocolate bars used "hollow" sugar crystals to reduce the amount of sugar by almost a third.
Health authorities have been pressuring confectionery manufacturers to lower the amount of sugar in their products.
The Milkybar Wowsomes was the first product from Nestle to use the technology it developed to create sugar with a more porous structure, which it likened to hollowing out the sugar crystals.
Some industry experts have called the technology a breakthrough that would propel the company as the leader in a growing market for low-sugar products.
At the time of the product's launch, Nestle's chief executive for UK and Ireland Stefano Agostini said: "A new product like Milkybar Wowsomes introduces greater choice and allows parents to treat their children with chocolate that tastes great but has less sugar."
He added: "We are demonstrating how we can, and will, contribute to a healthier future and that we take our public health responsibilities very seriously."
Other companies have followed suit by coming up with reduced sugar versions of their products, including the reduced sugar Mars and Snickers from Mars Wrigley UK and low-sugar Cadbury Dairy Milk from Mondelez.
The decision by Nestle to drop its Milkybar Wowsomes demonstrates the challenges big processed food manufacturers currently face. Although governments and other people are calling for lower-sugar products, most consumers are yet to embrace less sweet alternatives.
Nestle said it is currently working on a new sugar reduction technology it plans to launch next year.
This week, Unilever vowed to halt its marketing efforts to children in order to reduce obesity rates. The company said it will limit the use of cartoon characters in its advertising to accomplish this.
