Swiss food giant Nestlé has pledged to reduce sugar in its confectionery range by 10% by the end of 2018. The company has claimed to have eliminated 2.6 billion teaspoons of sugar and more than 60 billion calories from its food products since 2015, and cutting 7.4% of sugar from its confectionery range.

Nestlé’s breakfast cereal division is also adhering to the pledge. Meanwhile, Nestlé Waters announced that there would be a 40% sugar reduction in its San Pellegrino fruit-based beverages, facilitated by switching a fraction of the sugar content to the natural sweetener stevia.

Nestlé UK and Ireland CEO Stefano Agostini said of the changes: “I can tell you that the reduced-sugar fruit-based drinks announced today taste every bit as good as the ones they are replacing and that is thanks to the hard work of our experts.”​

The confectionery giant has made a number of product reformulations, including manufacturing KitKat’s with extra milk and cocoa, and making milk the main ingredient in the Milkybar. Nestlé has also introduced new versions of Rowntree’s sweets with 30% less sugar.

“It is not as simple as just removing sugar from a product; the skill is in making that product taste just as good or, ideally, better,” said Agostini. “We have an unrivalled research and development network across the globe that makes this possible.”

Portion guidance will also be introduced to the confectionery range, according to the company.

Nestlé chairman Fiona Kendrick said: “These innovations will help us to reduce sugar in confectionery when they are combined with other, more common methods like reformulating recipes and swapping sugar for other non-artificial ingredients.”

Recently, Public Health England (PHE) set a goal to reduce the calorie content of certain foods by 20% by 2024.

Within this framework, PHE’s chief executive Duncan Selbie said: “Nestlé is the latest household name to commit to making everyday products healthier and we’re delighted this is just the start of its efforts.”