Mars to Cap Chocolate Product Portions at 250 Calories

Chocoholics may want to stock up now, as Hackettstown, N.J.-based Mars Chocolate North America plans to stop shipping chocolate products containing more than 250 calories per portion by the end of next year.

The calorie limit is part of the company’s “broad-based commitment to health and nutrition,” said a Mars spokeswoman.

Contrary to previous media statements implying that Mars would no longer have any larger-format offerings, the company has already has made the switch from the former King Size bar to a multi-piece format to enable sharing or saving a piece for later, noted the spokeswoman, adding that these items were labeled 2toGo, 4toGo and Sharing Size. “We’ve also incorporated a new wrapper with ‘memory’ that is unique to the chocolate category,” she said. “We call it Twist Wrap, and it empowers the consumer to be able to twist the wrapper closed, making it easier to save a piece for later. These formats generally represent more than a single portion and are clearly labeled as such.”

Previously, Mclean, Va.-based parent company Mars Inc. said it was committed to reducing sodium levels in all of its products by 25 percent by 2015.

This isn’t the first time Mars has introduced an initiative based on social responsibility -- in 2007, the company promised not to buy advertising if more than one quarter of the audience was expected to be under 12 years old.