In its report, the European organization monitoring the quality of children’s nutrition has accused the giant food and beverage company Nestlé of discriminating against poor countries.
Famous in America “Time Magazine” According to the Zurich-based watchdog Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), a joint investigation revealed that Nestlé added sugar and honey to its baby milk and cereal products in developing and poor countries. It does but not in European markets.
Nestlé is the world’s largest food and beverage corporation, with a turnover of $265.57 billion in April 2024.
The study examined 150 products sold by the company in low- and middle-income countries, including the best-selling brands “Cerelac” and “Nido”.
For research, samples of baby food products manufactured by Nestlé in Asia, Latin America and Africa were sent to a testing laboratory in Belgium.
“We targeted sugar because it’s the number one enemy when it comes to nutritional health,” Laurent Gabriel, Public Eye’s agriculture and nutrition expert, told Time.com. .’
He said that the consumption of sugar in the early age of children and infants can be very harmful. This is one of the main factors behind the obesity crisis. If children are forced to consume sweets, they will essentially be at a higher risk of obesity later in life and suffer from negative health outcomes such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and other chronic diseases.’
The test results showed that “almost all” of Nestle’s wheat-based Cyrillic cereals in these regions, intended for children aged six months, contained an average of 4 grams of sugar, or one sugar cube, per serving. is equal to
The highest amount of added sugar in a Nestlé product was found in the Philippines at 7.3 grams per serving, followed by Nigeria at 6.8 grams and Senegal at 5.9 grams. Furthermore, seven of the 15 countries did not specify on the product label that it contained added sugar.
Meanwhile, Nedo powdered milk intended for one- to three-year-olds contains about two grams of added sugar per serving, with the highest level of added sugar in powdered milk in Panama at 5.3 grams. This was followed by 4.7 grams of sugar per serving in Nicaragua and 1.8 grams in Mexico.
Public Eye and IBFAN found that sugar was not added to equivalent products in Nestlé’s home country of Switzerland, as well as other major European markets in Germany, the UK and France.
The report described this as a ‘double standard’ that is ‘unwarranted and troubling’ from an ethnic and public health perspective.
Currently, more than one billion people worldwide are suffering from obesity.
In a statement to TIME, a Nestlé spokesperson said: ‘Baby food is a highly regulated category. Wherever we operate, our portfolio complies with local regulations or international standards, including labeling requirements and limits on carbohydrate content that contain sugars.’
Gabriel says it’s difficult to understand how much sugar is added to a product, as most manufacturers only disclose the total sugar content, including the ‘basically harmless’ amount found in fruit and vegetables. May contain natural sugars.
He said that India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, and South Africa are countries that list the sugar content of Cyrillic baby cereals on official labels, while countries like Brazil, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nigeria, and Senegal do not. would have been
European guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend that no sugars or sweetening agents should be used in the food of children under three years of age.
Meanwhile US government guidelines recommend that children under the age of two should avoid added sugar, and the UK caps the limit at children under the age of four.
Gabriel says there is a growing consensus around the world to avoid early sugar consumption for children.
‘The only reason Nestlé does this is basically because they know kids like sugar and they’ll want their products again and again,’ says Gabriel.
“Their aim is only to increase the sales of their products,” he said.
Nestlé says it has reduced the amount of added sugar in its global portfolio of baby cereals by 11% over the past decade.
A Nestlé spokesperson says the total sugar content of Nestlé products is declared and that Nido and Cerelac products have ‘minor compositional variations’ due to regulations and local ingredient availability.
Influencer marketing was a major strategy used by Nestlé, according to the Public Eye and IBFAN report.
Gabriel said the company uses “mom influencers” and health experts in paid partnerships that “mislead” the average consumer.
Gabriel also notes that paid contributions look more like expert advice than traditional advertising methods.
“You will find online social media nutritionists, pediatricians, doctors, promoting Nestlé products, NIDO and Cerelac products as healthy for children, that it will improve their immunity and brain development,” says Gabriel. How good are they for’?
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2024-04-20 22:29:35