Nestlé changes the recipe for its Chocapic cereal to avoid a Nutri-Score C

To avoid seeing its rating drop too much under the new Nutri-Score criteria, Nestlé will again change the recipe for Chocapic, its best-selling cereal in France. Other major food groups have not reacted in the same way.

Three months after the new Nutri-Score came into effect - which is notably more stringent for sugary products - Nestlé has announced that it is reviewing the recipe for its Chocapic cereals to maintain the best possible score.

For the past year and a half, Nestlé has conducted dozens of recipe trials, conducting all-out consumer tests, to finally find the trick that removes 11% of sugar from Chocapic. But of course, without displeasing breakfast cereal lovers in the eight million French households that consume it. The idea is to maintain the immediate indulgence of the coating of each cereal, but to remove the sugar from the inside of the flakes, notably by using less chocolate.

A bowl of Chocapic was rated A under the old Nutri-Score algorithm. These cereals will be rated B under the new recipe, whereas they were threatened by the new criteria with an orange C, not far from red. A rating well understood by customers as a product category to be banned.

Danone, for its part, risked the same fate for its drinking dairy products. The manufacturer chose to throw in the towel and no longer display the Nutri-Score at all . Since it was created in 2017, it has still not been mandatory.

Chocapic is the second best-selling cereal brand in France, behind competitor Kellogg's Trésor. This cereal, which accounts for nearly 30% of Nestlé's sales in France and 40% of its advertising spending, has seen its recipe modified seven times in twenty years, with a " progressive " reduction of 48% in sugar, 60% in salt, and saturated fat, as well as an increase in fiber.