Palm oil-free chocolate spread
French farmer turned CEO, Lucien Georges converted to the jam-making business 30 years ago, and was at SIAL promoting the company’s new recipe for its chocolate hazelnut spread.
It uses hazelnuts sourced from the French regions Lot and Garonne, less than 30 km from the production site, and makes a prominent palm oil-free claim.
Nutella found itself the focus of a negative publicity campaign in France launched by consumer rights group UFC-QueChoisir, and a number of products in France that make on-pack claims of bring palm oil-free are on the market.
Georges said seven or eight years ago he had perfected a recipe for a chocolate hazelnut spread using palm oil but it never reached the market. Then he saw an opening for a palm oil-free version.
The Lucien Georges products, available in both organic and conventional, use a blend of colza oil and coconut oil.
“It took several months of work to find the right balance of oils and to get a recipe that’s bit different than that of our competitors. We always try to do things a little bit differently to the others to stand out,” said Georges.
“Today people are talking a lot about deforestation in certain [producer] countries. There’s that and as well the oils that we use are better tolerated by the body. We are trying work on the balance between pleasure and health; it’s a [trend] that’s really popular at the minute and we are following that direction.”
It is already selling in French retailers Carrefour and Auchan and is in the process of negotiating with other regional distributors with the aim of securing contracts with national retailers.
