The Ferrero giant celebrated the 60th anniversary of Nutella by launching its version with only plant-based ingredients, in September 2024, certified as ‘vegan’.
But is it really so? And does the change in recipe of the ‘100% vegetable’ version, compared to the traditional version, justify the significant increase in price? Brief notes to follow.
1) Classic and vegetable Nutella compared
Nutella is the iconic brand of a sweet spreadable cream, with added hazelnuts. The basic ingredients, which together represent about 70% of Nutella, are sugar and palm oil. The following ingredients, in the two versions:
– classic. Hazelnuts (13%), skimmed milk powder (7,4%), whey powder, cocoa powder, emulsifier soy lecithin, flavourings;
– plant based. Hazelnuts (13%), chickpeas, low-fat cocoa (7,4%), rice syrup powder, soy lecithin, salt, flavourings.May contain MILK as this product is manufactured in a facility that uses milk’.
2) Nutritional profiles
The nutritional profiles of both versions of Nutella are completely unbalanced, due to:
– significant energy values. 539 kcal per 100g for the classic product, 534 kcal for the Nutella Plant-Based;
– excess sugars. 56,3% classic Nutella, 45,4% vegetable Nutella;
– fat and saturated fat saturated. 30,9 and 10,6 g, respectively, the original Nutella. 31,8 and 11 g the ‘vegan’ one.
Both products qualify as ultra-processed foods, in the NOVA 4 classification. (1) And they have the worst Nutri-Score, letter E (bright orange), like (almost?) all Ferrero products.
Ferrero, not by chance, has been engaged for years in a furious battle without borders – EU, WHO, Codex Alimentarius (2,3,4) – against nutritional policies and FOPNL (Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling) systems.
3) Nutella, the ‘vegan’ certification
Vegetarian Society (UK) has certified 100% vegetable Nutella as ‘vegan’, as it does not contain ingredients of animal origin. In compliance with the ISO 23622:2021 standard which, as we have seen, has collected protests from the Vegan World Alliance (VWA) for not having considered animal rights with respect to:
– exploitation in agriculture, including for the purpose of obtaining by-products (e.g. manure and other fertilizers of animal origin);
– production of food packaging with components of animal origin;
– destination of genetic material to the biotech industry, or of other materials to the cosmetics industry;
– laboratory experiments (indeed more widespread in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors, which may also constitute part of the activities and investments of Corporations that also operate in the food and retail sectors). (5)
The issue of Nutella ‘100% vegetable’ is, when you look at it, more complex and deserves the attention of all consumers, vegan and otherwise.
4) Veganism
‘veganism is a way of life and philosophy that when practiced will result in the end of the exploitation of all animals, including human animals’ (Vegan World Alliance). (6)
Vegans more carefully consider ethical aspects which include:
– death and damage caused to animals (e.g. pollinating and non-pollinating insects, wild fauna) through the use of pesticides;
– the killing of animals, even if involuntary but foreseeable (and avoidable), with agricultural machinery;
– the removal of animals from their natural habitats, including through changes in land use;
– and above all, the exploitation of workers and human rights violations.
5) Nutella plant-based, a vegan product?
Palm oil – the second ingredient in Nutella – is the leading cause of land theft and deforestation globally. This leads to:
– violation of the fundamental human rights of indigenous populations deported with violence and threats from their lands (land-grabbing). As also documented by BBC; (7)
– killing of millions of animals (e.g. orangutans, elephants, Sumatran tigers) also through huge fires, to make room for intensive monocultures; (8,9)
– abuse of pesticides, including neurotoxic ones, such as paraquat, which are harmful to workers as well as to animals of all species. (10)
Child exploitation has also been documented, by the Associated Press and BBC respectively, in Ferrero’s oil palm supply chains in Indonesia and hazelnut supply chains in Türkiye (11,12).
6) Certifications?
RSPO certification which Ferrero and other Corporations boast about, it should be noted, only concerns deforestation and not land theft or child exploitation.
Greenpeace and numerous other organizations have also demonstrated the unreliability of the RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Oil Production) certification, as we have seen. (13)
The Ferrero group, among other things, has never responded to the investigation conducted by GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade) in Indonesia on the alleged sustainability of its palm oil. (14)
7) Hazelnuts
Intensive cultivation of hazelnuts – which Ferrero promotes, in Italy, without applying agronomic protocols inspired by agroecology – are in turn responsible for serious environmental impacts.
The European Commission has in fact started an infringement procedure against Italy, as we have seen, for the pesticide poisoning of the waters of Lake Vico. (15)
8) Plant-based Nutella, at what price?
The price of Nutella plant-based is much higher than its classic version. This higher price does not appear to be justified by the replacement of ingredients such as skimmed milk and whey powder with others such as chickpeas and rice syrup.
The real costs of both types of Nutella are the hidden ones, in the logic indicated by the FAO. (16) Public health costs, linked to the increase in obesity, including childhood obesity and related diseases – starting from type 2 diabetes – and sustainability costs, for the environment and populations.
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. NOVA classification, natural and ultra-processed foods. Friends and enemies of health. FT (Food Times). September 16, 2020
(2) Dario Dongo. Nutella sketches on the WHO. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(3) Dario Dongo. NutriScore, Ferrero and Coldiretti against everyone. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(4) Dario Dongo. Codex Alimentarius, the NutriScore and the WHO guidelines. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(5) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. ISO 23622:2021, Veg, vegetarian and vegan food labeling criteria. FT (Food Times). March 22, 2021
(6) Veganism. Vegan World Alliance https://tinyurl.com/yw777cdu
(7) Dario Dongo. BBC Indonesia. Voice to the natives robbed to produce palm oil. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(8) Dario Dongo, Giulia Caddeo. Indonesia, fires and RSPO certified palm oil. Greenpeace report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(9) Dario Dongo, Giulia Caddeo. Borneo on fire for palm oil, the CNN report. Buycott! GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 11.12.19
(10) Dario Dongo. Paraquat, the agrotoxic Made in Europe. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(11) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. USA, Girl Scouts against Ferrero cookies. FT (Food Times). January 9, 2021
(12) Dario Dongo, Giulia Caddeo. Ferrero, hazelnuts and child labor. BBC investigation in Turkey. FT (Food Times). November 16, 2019
(13) Dario Dongo. Unsustainable palm oil, the charge of 101. FT (Food Times). December 3, 2022
(14) Dario Dongo, Giulia Torre. Palm oil, Ferrero, sustainability. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(15) Dario Dongo, Caterina Peciola. I love you Italy. The dark side of Ferrero’s hazelnuts. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(16) Dario Dongo, Alessandra Mei. FAO, SOFI report 2023. The hidden costs of agri-food systems. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
