Rebalancing ingredients
Earlier this year, Pladis-owned McVitie’s announced it was reducing sugar in nine of its best-selling UK biscuits by up to 10%. The trick? Rebalancing ingredients, according to the biscuit maker.
Pladis testes is celebrated Digestives, Hobnobs, and Ginger Nuts products, alongside others, with ‘hundreds of consumers’ to ensure the taste and texture profile passed the test. Even a group of self-confessed McVitie’s ‘superfans’ were involved.
According to Pladis, it was important the reformulated products tasted exactly the same when dunked in a cup of tea. The company used a ‘mechanical dunking arm’ in the laboratory to record the ‘time to break’ when dunked.
The result is McVitie’s Original Digestives with just 15.1g sugar per 100g, compared to the previous 16.6g. McVitie’s Rich Tea biscuits now contain 18.5g sugar per 100g, and McVitie’s Original Hobnobs now contain 22.9g sugar per 100g.
Further, the brand’s Milk Chocolate Digestives now contain 28.5g per 100g, and the dark chocolate variety, just 26.6g sugar per 100g.
The company aims to get below, or as close to, Public Health England’s target (of 26.2g sugar per 100g) while maintaining McVitie’s distinctive taste.
Image source: Pladis