Moon Magic Takes on Big Chocolate With Low-Sugar, Dairy-Free ‘World’s First’

Claiming the title of the “world’s first” vegan, no-sugar-added, low-calorie, milk chocolate, Canada’s Moon Magic has announced the launch of six chocolate bars.

According to Moon Magic, while the good-for-you chocolate market has increased recently, many of those offerings are still high in sugar and calories, which can negate the benefits of chocolate.

Moon Magic

Chocolate is a rich source of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, but experts say chocolate diluted by dairy reduces those benefits. Likewise, sugar can make chocolate a high-calorie food and increases the risk of type-2 diabetes and obesity, among other issues.

“The entire goal of this product line and brand is to change what has been ‘too good to be true’ in the past into a reality,” Shawn Brown, Founder of Moon Magic, said in a statement. Brown says Moon Magic is poised to disrupt the $113 billion global chocolate market.

“Feeling guilty for consuming ‘treats’ is what I have set out to change — without sacrificing on taste, texture, and experience — and while never wavering from ingredient quality and quantity goals. The entire concept is for consumers to ‘have it all’ when it comes to chocolate confections. We aim to revolutionize the chocolate confections industry, worldwide,” Brown says.

Moon Magic says its 45-gram chocolate bars contain just 117 calories and 2 grams of sugar, which come from the oat milk. Its debut range includes Cosmic Crunch (Crisp puffed rice), Java Rock (Crunchy coffee-flavored), Caramel in Retrograde (Salted caramel), Tropic of Coconut (Shredded coconut and quinoa), and Cherry’s Comet ( herry forward chocolate), which Brown says are inspired by popular chocolate bar flavors of childhood.

A changing chocolate category

Moon Magic uses allulose, a sugar found in dried fruits and maple syrup that’s not metabolized by the body, delivering a net carb impact of zero.

The company says it also eschews preservatives, chemicals, and a long list of “strange ingredients.” Moon Magic says it works with purist chocolatiers in order to ensure the result is similar to high-quality Swiss chocolate.

Moon Magic joins an emerging low-calorie chocolate category. Lily’s, a popular sugar-free confectionery brand, uses stevia in its chocolate bars. ChocZero uses monk fruit.

The category is also seeing a move away from dairy. California’s TCHO chocolate recently announced its shift to a fully vegan brand. And last year, leading chocolate brand Mars announced a partnership with Perfect Day, using its precision fermentation dairy in place of conventional milk.

The brand WNWN is ditching chocolate altogether, using a proprietary blend of ingredients that it says deliver the taste and texture of chocolate but bypassing the environmental and ethical complications of the conventional chocolate industry.