Nestle Is Now Changing Their Most Delicious Product
Nestle will now offer plant-based chocolate morsels.
Nestle is one of the biggest food companies in the world, and they have thousands of products across their many brands. Many people are likely familiar with the company’s Toll House baked goods, which includes the Chocolate Chip Morsels, which the company first released more than 80 years ago. Now, to hop on the growing plant-based trend, the company will add Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Morsels in Dark Chocolate and Semi-Sweet to its offerings. (via Comicbook.com)
Nestle will begin offering the new plant-based morsels in June, releasing the product nationwide to grocery stores. Those looking to bake some plant-based cookies won’t have to wait much longer to get access to these chips. The Toll House Plant-Based Morsels have a suggested retail price of $5.19 for a 9-ounce package, but the price you find may vary based on the store and location.
The new plant-based options for Nestle are partially hopping on a food trend, but it also appears to be part of the company’s efforts to be more sustainable. The food company created an internal panel in 2015 to check environmental claims before appearing on products and marketing. These panels help to curb allegations of “greenwashing” as the U.S. and the European Union step up efforts to stamp out the claims some companies make about environmental efforts that don’t hold up under scrutiny.
Nestle is known for over 2,000 brands, including Gerber, Purina, Perrier, Wonka, L’Oreal, Stouffers, Kit-Kat, Crunch, Hot Pockets, Nespresso, and many more. Currently, the food company is facing a legal battle involving the former investors of the food delivery startup Freshly, who allege Nestle failed to make earnout payments after the company’s acquisition of Freshly in 2020 for $1.5 billion. Per the merger agreement, there was an agreement to pay $950 million plus potential earnouts of up to $550 million based on future growth.
Insight Partners, White Star, Highland Capital Partners, Slow Ventures, and others are amongst those involved in the Nestle lawsuit. This is far from the first time that Nestle has been the subject of lawsuits or controversy. Infamously, the company has been the subject of scrutiny for its stances on water rights and access.
Nestle is one of the largest producers of bottled water in the world, and this has led to many of its biggest controversies. Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe has said in the past that water being a public right was an “extreme solution” before backing down from the statement after media backlash. At the second World Water Forum in 2000, the company also pushed to change the wording around water access from a “right” to a “need.”
Additionally, Nestle sources water from drought-prone areas like California and doesn’t have to divulge how much it draws to the state, with most estimates placing its water usage at around 1 billion gallons per year. Its Pure Life brand also reportedly engages in unsustainable aquifer use in underserved communities in other parts of the world. The company was also drawing water from water reserves near Flint, Michigan, for its products despite the water crisis that area was facing.
