NESTLÉ is cutting the sugar content in two of its Rowntree brands by 30 per cent as part of a drive to help improve the nation’s diet.

The York-based confectioner says sugar removed from Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles and Rowntree’s Randoms has been replaced by an increased fibre content and the new versions are being offered alongside existing products to provide choice.

“As well as having 30 per cent less sugar, the new products also have fewer calories,” said a spokesman.

Nestle UK chair and CEO Dame Fiona Kendrick said the company had worked ‘incredibly hard’ to create the brand new versions. “There have been as many as 76 different versions of the recipe over two years of research and development to ensure that what we have ended up with is just as good as the full sugar products,” she said.

“Confectionery can play as much of a part in the efforts to reduce sugar and tackle obesity in the UK as any other category and, as we’re demonstrating, we’ll take every opportunity to innovate and reformulate to improve our products.”

The spokesman said 9,000 consumers had already had the chance to try the new products as part of a large-scale blind taste test led through social media and initial feedback had been overwhelmingly positive.

The Rowntree’s brands are not made in York but Nestlé announced only last week that its flagship chocolate brand, KitKat, which is York made, will introduce extra milk and cocoa to allow for a cut in its sugar.