Nestle said access to food is a basic right and a key value for the world’s largest food company following criticism that the Swiss firm did not scale back its Russian activities quickly enough following the start of the lockdown. war in Ukraine.
After pressure mounted, Nestlé announced on March 23 that it had suspended the vast majority of manufacturing activity in Russiabut that would maintain the sale of essential products such as infant formula and medical nutrition.
“To some, it may have seemed that Nestlé was not listening carefully enough, or that we were not acting quickly enough in response to current events,” CEO Mark Schneider said in remarks prepared for the annual general meeting. of the company that would be carried out virtually.
“But, even in times of war, we believe that universal values and principles must continue to apply,” he added.
Schneider referred to calls that companies like Nestlé have faced to go beyond international sanctions and leave the Russian market. Ukrainian authorities, including the president himself, Volodímir Zelensky, criticized Nestlé and Schneider for continuing to operate in Russia, which provoked a wave of criticism and calls for boycotts on social networks.
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“We find ourselves immersed in global politics like at no other time in recent history,” Schneider said.
The maker of KitKat chocolate and Nespresso coffee is now keeping most of its production in the country suspended.