Milka Hazelnut Cream: What’s in the Nutella Alternative

Milka is making its way onto the breakfast spread shelf: the new Milka hazelnut cream has been available in supermarkets since mid-April. We have taken a close look at what is in the new spread variant and how it differs from Nutella.

Milka Hazelnut Cream: Much the same as Nutella, but not everything

The new Milka hazelnut cream contains ingredients similar to those in the popular Nutella, but with a few differences.

• As far as the sugar content is concerned, the differences between the two products will hardly be different, because this is the top ingredient in both.
• Both products also contain skimmed milk powder and low-fat cocoa.
• Hazelnuts are also naturally processed in hazelnut creams. Nutella has 13% hazelnuts and Milka 5% in the form of hazelnut mass.
• However, Milka makes an important difference in the choice of the oil used: In contrast to the heavily criticized palm oil, which is in Nutella, Milka uses sunflower oil to make the breakfast cream creamy.
• Milka also made the more environmentally friendly decision when choosing the emulsifier – an auxiliary substance that enables the oil to be combined with other components. Sunflower lecithins are used here instead of soy lecithins like Nutella.

Palm oil and soy – the problem behind the Nutella ingredients

Milka has opted for a different product composition than Nutella and has completely dispensed with palm oil and soy ingredients. But why?

• Palm oil has long been criticized because large parts of the rainforest are cleared for its cultivation, threatening the animal and plant world.
• And there are repeated warnings about possible cancer risks from palm oil.
• Although Nutella consistently assures that only sustainably grown palm oil is used in the breakfast cream, many customers have a problem with the high proportion of oil in the product – in second place on the list of ingredients.
• Soy products and the companies that manufacture them are repeatedly accused of being “environmental sinners” because large areas of the rainforest are cut down for this purpose.