Smarties is celebrating three years since the popular chocolate brand became free from artificial colouring or flavours. Nestlé Malta in fact introduced SMARTIES without any artificial colouring on the market in May 2006 soon after the same initiative was undertaken by Nestlé Rowntree in the UK.

“Smarties stopped containing artificial colouring three years ago because it is Nestlé’s commitment to support the consumer trend towards balanced lifestyles,” said a spokesperson for Nestlé Malta. “Nestlé is also aware that parents have become increasingly aware of the importance of healthy options both for themselves and for their children. By ensuring that Smarties, one of the most favourite treats remains without artificial colouring or flavouring, we are responding to increased consumer demand for less artificial ingredients.”

Nestlé has a long-term focus on improving the nutritional qualities of existing products and on launching new, great tasting products that people can easily integrate into their diets. In 2005 in fact, the blue smartie was banished because of a move which formed part of Nestlé’s commitment to make all its confectionery free from artificial colours. This had even sparked a consumer outrage with tens of thousands of mourning Smartie lovers petitioning Nestlé to ‘Bring Back Blue’! Not to disappoint consumers, Nestlé invested significant resources to find a non artificial colour solution and in January of 2008, the much loved colour Blue was back in the Hexatube.