Image copyright Nestle Image caption Nestle is changing the recipes of its chocolate candies in the US to get rid of artificial flavours and colours

Swiss food giant Nestle will be removing all artificial flavours and colours from its chocolate products in the US, the firm said on Tuesday.

Its US unit has promised to get rid of artificial flavours and government certified colours in more than 250 chocolates by the end of this year.

The move was prompted by its market research, which showed that US consumers wanted the additives gone.

Nestle will replace the flavours and colours with natural ingredients.

The ingredients from natural sources are certified as safe by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the company said.

New recipes

For example, the centre of its Butterfinger bars will now have annatto, which comes from the seeds found in the fruit from the achiote tree, instead of certified colours Red 40 and Yellow 5, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

"In CRUNCH, natural vanilla flavour will replace artificial vanillin."

The company is making changes to more than 75 recipes, said health and wellness manager Leslie Mohr, who added that consumer testing had been done on the new recipes.

More than 60% of Americans said the absence of artificial colouring or flavouring was an important factor in their decision to buy food, according to a recent Nielsen survey the company cited.

Nestle is also in the process of removing caramel colouring from its chocolate products.

The new products are expected to be available for sale by the middle of next year.