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Swiss food firm’s infant formula and cereal sold in global south ignore WHO anti-obesity guidelines for Europe, says Public Eye
Nestlé, the world’s largest consumer goods company, adds sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries, contrary to international guidelines aimed at preventing obesity and chronic diseases, a report has found.
Campaigners from Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organisation, sent samples of the Swiss multinational’s baby-food products sold in Asia, Africa and Latin America to a Belgian laboratory for testing.
The results, and examination of product packaging, revealed added sugar in the form of sucrose or honey in samples of Nido, a follow-up milk formula brand intended for use for infants aged one and above, and Cerelac, a cereal aimed at children aged between six months and two years.
In Nestlé’s main European markets, including the UK, there is no added sugar in formulas for young children. While some cereals aimed at older toddlers contain added sugar, there is none in products targeted at babies between six months and one year.
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Nestle is a notorious scumbag company, personally I have avoided anything Nestle all my life, since when I grew up, there were already news about illegally bad quality/harmful formula food. I have NEVER heard a good thing about that company.
That’s surprisingly hard to do. Nestlé produces 35% of the products in a North American grocery store.
I felt so betrayed the other day when I looked at my San Pellegrino and saw it was a Nestlé company.
As of now, the only product I have to buy to support this atrocious company is Fancy Feast because it’s the only food my picky senior cat will eat.
Ugh their firm grip on the pet food market endlessly pisses me off. I paid for a fancy B Corp certified cat food brand for years before realising it had been bought out by Nestlé
And Perrier, because why have one competing brand when you could have all of them
Perrier bought San Pelegrino, then Nestle bought Perrier. Perrier Group of America owned several water brands in the ‘90s and early ‘00s.
I switched to Gerolsteiner and never looked back. It’s amazing.
No…not Maggi!!
They have been doing things like this since at least the '70’s .
Yes I’m 61, and that’s what I remember. But what’s worse is that they continue to do it, so there are regular scandals about it. That’s why I’ve never forgiven the company, because when it could have been time, there’s a new scandal.
they also tell doctors in these poor countries to give the stupid products to new mothers with perfectly normal milk production. they tell them it’s better than natural milk. It’s an American product, and they buy into it because they want their kid to be smart like an American. Nestle is an awful company.
it’s worth mentioning that very rarely is baby formula better than breast milk. the contents of breast milk change depending on the what the child needs at the moment. it’s really sick that some companies market it as a better option than breast milk
whats really sick is the fact that nestle gave free formula to women in poor companies, telling them that it was better, just long enough for their breast milk to dry up, before starting to charge them insane prices for it.
Well, capitalism sees a vacuum where there’s no need and artificially creates need.
Of course there are a percentage of women who can’t breastfeed or babies who won’t, but as you said, they wedged the shitheel of companies into a space with limited need and lied to people, making babies less healthy and less developed. For money.
But it’s the best system there is, right? “Effective” and “best” don’t mean the same thing. But here we are. Led by greedy fuckers, tricking idiots, buying people up the information chain, to fool literally everyone.
Dog food is another great example. Did you know that iams/purina/science diet fund a ton of veterinary schools? They basically own the schools and inject their own “lessons” into the nutrition curriculum. Not to mention they turn vets into even higher priced retail food sales by calling it “prescription” food. That food is dog shit. Not dog food. But hey, capitalism “innovated” this type of shit into existence. And, this is just my opinion, but the fact that the food is so shitty I think might be calculated too. Get the dogs to have worse health, bring them back to the vet, more opportunities to sell a super cheaply made food at incredibly inflated prices.
Fuck capitalism. That’s all I have to say. Fuck it straight to hell.
Nestle is a Swiss company.
GET OIT OF MY ROOM, DAD
It even says that in the first line of the post
The babies going on formula means that the mother’s milk supply dries up when the baby isn’t having any, and that they’re then dependent on it, since it is quite difficult to start producing milk again after.
They also used to send their sales reps dressed like doctors
If there was a profit in dropkicking the babies Nestle would be doing it in a heartbeat
Economics says anything that turns a profit is morally right and good! (not sarcasm, many people think this.)
Sugar and honey? Aren’t you not supposed to give honey to infants?
added sugar in the form of sucrose or honey in samples of Nido, a follow-up milk formula brand intended for use for infants aged one and above,
I hate that it sounds as if I’m defending them, but the only specific mention of honey does say it was in a product targeted at children over 1 year old. I believe the recommendation I’ve heard is that honey is dangerous for children under 1 year old. But fuck, if unsweetened products are good enough for infants in wealthy countries, WTF are they doing adding it to products aimed at infants in poorer countries??
if unsweetened products are good enough for infants in wealthy countries, WTF are they doing adding it to products aimed at infants in poorer countries??
Getting their customers addicted early.
Come closer son, and let me just tell you a little secret about Nestlé corporation…
Nestle is comically evil, but it’s just not funny.
Maybe I missed it in the article, but isn’t it more expensive for Nestlé to add the sugar than to not use it? I don’t understand their motivation here. I mean, I assume it’s evil considering what company this is, I just don’t understand it.
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I can’t ever think about Coke marketing anymore without being reminded of the most evil thing I’ve ever seen committed to film.
https://screenmusings.org/movie/blu-ray/Slumdog-Millionaire/images/Slumdog-Millionaire-0272.jpg
Remind me how that guy/scene relates to coke? I haven’t seen that movie since it came out
(Not arguing! I just need a refresher to get the reference)
He meets the kids and hands them each a Coke as a way of presenting himself as friendly and generous–and it looks like a marketing money shot; I wish I could find a gif of it. Those Cokes look like ambrosia from heaven.
And then a few scenes later he’s putting out kids’ eyes to make them more effective beggars.
Aha! I remember now. I figured he was the kid-mutilator but completely forgot the Coke part.
Thanks for the reminder!
1kg formula/sugar-mix is cheaper than 1kg pure formula
I assume they then dilute it back down so it’s the same calories per 100 ml. Sugar is cheap.
It adds calories in an inexpensive way.
As if we needed any more reasons to hate Nestlé. If they ever find a sugar that’s as addictive as heroin, they’d sell it to the world without telling anyone.
Cut it with Ozempic to even it out.
Ahhh, liver damage from a young age
emmmm, saturated fats and preservatives. Merica!
Maybe they are trying to cut cost to able to sell cheap in poor country
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2 to 6.8 grams of sugar is less than 2 teaspoons, it’s not much sugar. The US guidelines recommend substituting no-calorie sweeteners instead, so it’s probably just a manufacturing issue not some evil corporate plot. Also the honey is in a product for kids 1 year and older which is safe.
I really don’t like this article because it reminds me of the crazy health nut parents who get disgusted by fat babies and try to make them diet for “health” and instead starve them. Babies are supposed to be fat.
Is the writer here applying guidelines for adults to babies? Babies are supposed to take in foods that are high calorie. I think Nestle is a shit company, but I am extremely suspicious of the article.
Yes babies are supposed to be fat. But not from sugar. To the best of my knowledge , when they are older and able to consume solid foods, things like actual fat or butter are fine ( the stuff that clogs arteries etc) but there is no point in a baby’s development that requires sugar as a necessity.
So it’s not really that the article is based on guidelines for adults and applying it to babies. It’s simply that the guideline for babies is that sugar is not necessary and can actually be more harmful than a multitude of other alternatives that can fulfill the same energy requirements of a baby subsistent wholly on milk.
If you read the whole article it also explains that it’s European version of the same product doesn’t contain added sugar.
The auto summary missed some key points in the article.
