‘Healthy’ Mars and Bounty bars launched with less calories after government crackdown on junk food

MARS and Bounty are launching new “naked” versions of the popular chocolate bars which are lower in calories amid a crackdown on high fat foods.

Mars Triple Treat, along with stablemates Bounty, Snickers and Galaxy are all being revamped.

The new Mars bar is made with date paste, nuts and raisins is being introduced to avoid being placed on the bottom shelf as new junk food laws look to crackdown on foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS).

Mars Triple Treat is due to hit Tesco shelves next month.

The old-style Mars bar was encased in chocolate but the new version will only have its based coated while the date and nut topping is lightly drizzled with chocolate on top, leaving it exposed.

Chocolate bars which are lower in calories and contain healthier ingredients will avoid falling foul of HFSS regulations and not be placed out of sight on the shelves or put in less prominent positions.

Chocolate giant Mars has spent 18 months perfecting its recipe for each bar which still retain elements of the originals.

The new Mars weighs 40g and has 173 calories compared to the old version which had 228 calories and weighed 51g but both still contain caramel.

Bounty Triple Treat has 169 calories and has a sprinkling of desiccated coconut on top compared with the original coming in at 278 calories.

Mars said its experts had “spent thousands of hours working on every minute detail of the bars - from the chewy caramel in the malt-infused Mars Triple Treat, to the crunchy roasted nuts on the Snickers variant”.

However, the new bars will retail at 80p a pop, around 57 per cent more than their traditional counterparts.

Mars said the increase in price was due to the “very premium ingredients” such as roasted peanuts and dates.

Mars Wrigley UK marketing director Kerry Cavanaugh said: “Triple Treat does exactly what is says on the tin - it’s packed with a knockout trio of fruit, nuts and our iconic chocolate, and is delightfully delicious to boot.

“We’re thrilled that Brits can now enjoy a great tasting - and HFSS compliant - Galaxy, Mars, Snickers and Bounty treat. It’s tasty reinvented.”

The new Triple Treat bars will be placed at eye-level, middle shelf and end of aisle locations while other popular chocolate treats such as Maltesers, M&M’s and Twix will be banned from prominent positions such as checkouts and entrances along with other HFSS foods.

The new measures are being introduced as the government tries to tackle the growing obesity crisis and are designed to remove the temptation of sugary treats like chocolate, sweets, cakes and biscuits from easy-access areas in supermarkets and relegate them to more remote areas.

The measures are aimed at helping fight obesity by removing tempting sugary treats from chocs and sweets to cakes and biscuits from easy-access areas to the supermarket backwaters from October when the new rules come in.