Exclusive Which? research reveals that Kenco has cut back on the coffee content of its 2-in-1 smooth white coffee sachets by 48% – but upped the sugar content almost threefold. The 2-in-1 coffee sachets used to contain 19g of coffee per 100g, but now contain just 9.9g.
In contrast, you’ll be drinking 33.5g of sugar per 100g in the new sachets, compared with 12.5g previously.
That’s an additional 168% of sugar in the drink. But coffee drinkers may not realise they’re drinking more sugar than before, as the change to the recipe hasn’t been made clear on the packaging.
Kenco coffee sachet recipes changes
Kenco changed the recipe of its 2-in-1 smooth white coffee sachets in July 2016.
Nutritional information is printed on the packet, but coffee drinkers may not realise the change unless they’ve compared previous sachets with current ones.
Richard Headland ,Which? magazine editor, said: ‘Shoppers are now much more aware of the health risks of hidden sugars in food and drink, which makes Kenco’s decision to nearly triple the sugar content hard to justify.
‘When manufacturers roll out lower-sugar versions of a product, they’re quick to advertise the fact. In this case, though, Kenco drastically increased the sugar but left its regular drinkers none the wiser.’
Kenco told us that the drink had been reformulated to use a coffee which was ‘stronger’ and of a ‘higher quality’. So its amount had been reduced to reach the ‘desired flavour profile’. It also said that the calories, fat and saturated fat had been cut.
