Unilever is reducing the size of its ice cream offerings Cornetto, Ben & Jerry's and Feast by one third in an effort to bring all its single-serving ice creams to 250 calories.
This move comes in response to the UK government's anti-obesity initiative.
In the last few years, Cadbury and Mars too have made similar commitments. While Cadbury pledged to discontinue production and sales of chocolate bars which contained over 250 calories in the UK, Mars had also pledged in 2012 to cut down calories in its chocolate bars to 250 by 2013 end, reported The Guardian.
Unilever had carried out an 18-month research to bring all of its single-serving ice creams to below 250 calories.
The transition will become effective from spring this year. The move will indicate that Ben & Jerry's single portion tubs will now have only 100ml compared to the existing 150ml, which is a 33% reduction in size. Price would also see a cut by 26% from £2.04 to £1.50, reported Foodingredientsfirst.com.
Unilever is also eliminating a host of its ice-creams, which is valued over £5m in annual retail sales in the UK. These ice cream brands include Magnum Infinity Chocolate and Cornetto Choc 'N' Ball.
Unilever UK & Ireland's executive director of brand building Noel Clarke was quoted by Food Ingredients First as saying: "We have introduced this 250 calorie cap to help make it easier for our consumers to make informed and healthier choices when enjoying their favourite ice-creams as part of a balanced lifestyle.
"It is important there be no compromise to taste or quality and that's exactly what we've delivered."
The company has been striving to better its ice cream portfolio. Last October, Unilever acquired Italian gelato business GROM to strengthen its ice cream portfolio and chart a growth of the company in the gelato market.
Following the completion of the acquisition process, GROM was said to continue to run as a separate unit, with the existing management heads Federico Grom and Guido Martinetti, who had opened the first GROM shop in 2003 in Turin.
Unilever's takeover of GROM followed the company's other recent acquisition of Talenti, which is another ice cream company based in Minneapolis. Talenti makes Sea Salt Caramel and Sicilian Pistachio flavours.
Image: Unilever reduces ice cream size.Photo: Courtesy of zole4/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.