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Nestle denied Thursday that it was making use of any “double standard” after an NGO accused the Swiss food big of promoting baby food with excessive ranges of added sugar in low-income countries however not in wealthier nations.
“There is no double standard,” the corporate mentioned in a press release. “We apply the same nutrition, health and wellness principles everywhere.”
In a report printed final week, Swiss NGO Public Eye mentioned that “two of the best-selling baby-food brands marketed by Nestle in low- and middle-income countries contain high levels of added sugar, while such products are sugar free in its home country, Switzerland.”
Nestle, which owns toddler milk manufacturers together with Laboratoire Guigoz and Nestle Nidal, mentioned its system for infants underneath 12 months of age don’t include added sugars. It mentioned it has been phasing out added sugars worldwide in “growing up milks” for youngsters older than one yr.
“Our range of cereals for infants and young children are available with and without added sugars in many parts of the world — in Europe as well as in markets in Asia, Latin America, and North America,” the corporate mentioned.
“We are continuing to roll out options with no added sugar, and our ambition is to have these available everywhere we offer infant and nutrition products,” it mentioned.
In its report, Public Eye cited the Cerelac model of flour-based cereals for six-month-olds, which it mentioned had greater than 5 grams of sugar per portion in Ethiopia and 6 grams in Thailand whereas it had none in Germany or Britain.
Published the day earlier than Nestle’s annual basic assembly, the report added to the stress the corporate was already dealing with from the ShareAction NGO and activist shareholders who demanded a vote on the well being affect of Nestle merchandise.
The movement failed, but it surely compelled firm executives to deal with the difficulty on the AGM.
Public Eye’s report additionally got here on high of warnings by French regulators about contamination of Nestle-branded mineral waters in France.
The circulate of damaging information “is raising concerns among shareholders,” Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst at Vontobel, mentioned in a commentary.
Patrik Schwendimann, an analyst on the Zurich cantonal financial institution, mentioned “investor sentiment towards Nestle has not been this low in more than 25 years”.
