Swiss food and beverage company Nestlé has long been a trusted source of nutrition to generations of people in countries throughout the world. It was the first breast milk company in the FTSE4Good Index since 2011. This sets Nestlé apart as a company that meets the Index’s strict environmental, social, and corporate governance criteria. According to Public Eye, a Swiss investigative non-governmental organisation, this global trust may have sadly been misused.
According to Public Eye’s latest reports, Nestlé has been found guilty of adding sweeteners like sugar and honey to infant products in lower-income countries. The report finds:
“Two of the best-selling baby-food brands marketed by Nestlé in low- and middle-income countries contain high levels of added sugar, while such products are sugar-free in its home country, Switzerland.”
This goes against all the industry guidelines that aim to prevent obesity and other NCDs in the world. This was found by testing Nestlé products sold in Africa, Asia, and Latin America separately from their counterparts in other higher-income countries. The company quickly rejected allegations of double standards, publishing a statement: “There is no double standard… We apply the same nutrition, health, and wellness principles everywhere.”
In high-income standards, where higher quality-of-life standards are more the norm than not, Nestlé does not add any sugars to its baby foods. The World Health Organisation’s guidelines on supplementary nutrition for infants is that from 6 months of age, infant nutrition can include a variety of adequate, safe, and nutrition-dense foods with no added salt and sugars as a supplement to breast milk. Following these guidelines early on sets children up with the best possible chance of living unaffected by NCDs such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
Earlier this year, a WHO report found that 37 million children aged 5 years and younger in the world were overweight—while the number of children between 5 and 19 was 390 million. It is in this setting that Nestlé is adding up to 6 grams of sugar to Cerelac, a wheat cereal product, in countries like Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India Thailand, South Africa, Pakistan, and the Philippines.
The same product contained no added sugar in Germany and the United Kingdom. Cerelac had the highest sugar content in the Philippines: 7.3 grams. Public Eye’s investigation also found that Nestlé also neglected to indicate added sugars in its ingredient lists in countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, and Vietnam.
Nestlé of course denies all accusations of any double standard practices. Its official response to the Public Eye investigation asserts that none of its infant formula products for babies under 12 months of age contain added sugars. The only formula products that do contain sugar are said to be those aimed at children between 1 and 3 years of age. The company is said to have been in the process of phasing out these sugars for quite some time and will reach completion by the end of this year. However, Nestlé does admit that its infant cereal products may contain sugar—which contravenes international food standards for infant nutrition.
Exposing children to sugar at such a young age has the potential to kickstart a preference for sweetened foods among young children—a preference that can quickly turn addictive and ultimately harmful to their health. While promising to provide more sugar-free options moving forward, Nestlé also doubles down on their product practices, stating that its products “comply with all applicable local and/or international regulations”, and that the sugar added to infant diets is “crucial to expose them to different tastes and textures”. The company also adds that the nutrition it provides to young children is vital in preventing malnutrition among children in certain regions.
This is not the first time that Nestlé’s name has been featured prominently in an infant nutrition scandal. Over the years, many advocacy groups have accused the company of using various unethical business practices to make both parents and children reliant on their products. For example, the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) claims that Nestlé distributes free formula and cereal products to new mothers in hospital wards—in the period when mothers’ bodies transition towards producing milk for their young children. Making mothers rely on the company for their infant’s nutrition interferes with the lactation process, making them rely on formula outside of the hospital as well when the formula is no longer available for free.
The WHO recommends that children be fed breastmilk exclusively for the first six months of its life. This is because it is naturally produced, safe, clean, and contains antibodies that help protect against many childhood diseases. In fact, studies have found that breastfed children perform better on intelligence tests, and are less likely to contract diabetes or become obese even later on in life.
(Theruni Liyanage)