Barry Callebaut is working on a new reduced fat chocolate, and it’s recently been awarded a patent for the product.

Specifically, the patent is for a processing technique that allows the chocolate supplier to produce milk chocolate with only 25 percent of fat by weight, versus 36 percent fat in a comparable chocolate.

The process involves a means to refine fat-coated particles before the traditional conching step. It's a new technique that Barry Callebaut can apply to products used in enrobing, like bars and biscuits, and moulding, like tablets and pralines.

This new technique is a plus for consumers looking to reduce calorie intake.

Calorie reduction is a big challenge in chocolate as both fat and sugar needs to be reduced, says Marijke De Brouwer, program manager of authenticity and permissibility. But reducing fat content has a bigger impact than reducing sugar.

"It is all about finding the right balance," says De Brouwer. "Barry Callebaut has a long history in reformulation in a responsible way. With the new processing technique, we continue to offer to our customers solutions that will help them to reformulate their products without compromising on taste."

The addition of patent EP 2 152 091, awarded by the European Patent Office, to Barry Callebaut's portfolio of over 30 international patents will broaden the company's innovation-based offering of reformulated products. It will offer customers new solutions for products with a better energy balance and improved composition.