Nestle! STOP that SUGAR in BABY FOODS – Can the Swiss Government Look the Other Way?

 

Nestlé, it’s time to face the truth.

Your double standards in stand exposed.

Thanks to a revealing report by Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), April 2024, your questionable marketing practices and unethical manufacturing standards stand exposed.

 

 

 

The findings highlight your double standards when it comes to infant nutrition. You manufacture baby food (with no added sugar) for the children of advanced countries like Switzerland, UK, Germany while the baby food you produce for millions of children worldwide hooks them to sugar because you add extra sugar to their formula feed.

On top of that you try to hoodwink the world by reducing their sugar content by a mere 11%, which is nothing more than lip service to this critical issue. Such small reduction does little to curb the long-term damage caused by introducing babies to sweetened foods too early. What is truly needed, and is critical for public health is the complete elimination of sugar from your cereal baby foods. Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended the same.

The science is clear

Early exposure to sugar is addictive and sets up children for a lifetime of unhealthy eating habits and increases their risk of obesity, diabetes, and other non-communicable diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has long emphasized that babies should not consume sugar during their first two years of life.

Yet here, in 2024, sugary baby foods are openly displayed on shelves in many countries—often marketed under the guise of health and nutrition.

Why Nestlé continues to push these products on some of the world’s most vulnerable populations, while offering better standards to families in Switzerland, the UK, and Germany? Why does a Swiss child deserve better, while babies in other parts of the world are exposed to excess sugar during their most crucial developmental years?

These questions need answers.

You Cannot Hide Behind Laws !

It is clear that your business model is driven by profit at the cost of public health and you employ every trick in the trade by claiming to abide by law. The absence of national legislation or slow-moving Codex standards are just a fig leaf to justify your unethical practices.The evil of higher standard for some countries and ill health for the rest is simply unacceptable. Public health is universal, and it’s time to eliminate these double standards without waiting for legal mandates.

Swiss Government—Act Now to Protect Global Public Health!

 It is high time that the Swiss government woke up to their international obligations and responsibilities to follow and implement the recommendations of World Health Organisation.It’s unacceptable and hypocritical on the part of Swiss government that Nestlé, headquartered in Switzerland, is allowed to manufacture and export this sugary product to other parts of the world, especially in developing countries, while providing baby foods with no-sugar-added to Swiss families.

This isn’t just a corporate issue—it’s about global health and probity.

Should the Swiss government look the other way? Public health is non-negotiable, and it’s time for the Swiss government to lead by example.

And it’s time for both Nestlé and the Swiss government to prove they are committed to protecting all children—not just the privileged few.

 

Nestlé, the world is watching, STOP that Sugar now.

 

Dr Arun Gupta MD FIAP
Pediatrician, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI)
September 26, 2024
*Pics Courtesy Public Eye Report