How Nestle is weathering the baby food storm
Last week, Nestle India CMD Suresh Narayanan was in the hot seat as he
elded questions on the sugar controversy triggered by a recent report released by Swiss investigative NGO Public Eye.
He vehemently dismissed accusations made by the Swiss NGO of Nestle having “double standards” for developed and developing markets.
The report alleged Nestle’s baby-food products sold in low and middle-income countries, including India, contain ‘high levels of added sugar, while such products are sugar-free in developed markets.
The report’s claims about added sugar levels in Cerelac sold in the country has prompted Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to kickstart an industry-wide testing of infant food products samples across brands.
Nestle is no stranger to controversies. The Swiss multinational has battled critics over its marketing practices, labour handling, and product safety. Its baby food and infant formula, with a fth of the world’s market share, has recurringly come under the scanner.
Defusing crisis
Asserting the company applies the same nutrition principles globally, Mr. Narayanan said there is no local approach to making “nutritional adequacy” strategy. He pointed out how this global approach translates into products locally depends on raw materials, feeding habits and local regulatory norms.
“Added sugar products and no-added sugar products are present in Europe as well as they are present in Asia. So, these allegations of racial stereotypes are unfortunate but untrue. There is no distinction made between a child in Europe or a child in India or any other part of the world,” he told a media roundtable.
The company also said added sugar levels in Cerelac portfolio was at 7.1 gm per 100 gm of feed, “well below” the prescribed limits set by FSSAI (13.6 gm per 100 gm of feed). “In the last ve years, almost a 30% reduction has been achieved by us in the infant-cereal portfolio. We are looking at further ways of reducing added sugar.”
Experts say now it’s for the FSSAI to complete testing to verify the declarations made by the company. They also add this controversy is unlikely to have long-term rami cations for the company.
Ankur Bisen, Senior Partner & Head-Consumer, Food & Retail, Technopak says,” It’s not as if this has come as a shock to Nestle. The sugar controversy is not speci c to India. There has been a lot of activism around sugar globally which packaged food companies have been facing for the past few years. It is Nestle’s stated goal that it is working on reducing sugar levels and focusing on adding healthier products to their portfolio. In that context, Nestle has systems and an apparatus in place to address this issue.”
Mr. Bisen believes the controversy instead puts the spotlight on the incapacity of India’s food regulatory framework to deal with such issues more proactively and the need to put in place more stringent norms. The controversy comes at a time when consumer activism about healthier food products and claims is gaining ground amid growing calls for more stringent regulations and enforcement.
‘Give consumers choice’
But could Nestle have done better ? K. .S Narayanan, food & beverage expert and former MD, McCain Foods, says, “They should have o ered both variants with added sugar and noadded sugar as part of their portfolio and should have left it to the consumers to make their choice. Maybe they will do that in the future or may come out with another formulation as a fallout of this controversy.”
“Nestle India dominates the infant-food segment. The alternative is home recipes, but the reasons consumers seek baby food products is for convenience and brand trust. Also, this category cannot be advertised as per law.”
The company said it had not seen any signi cant impact on sales of Cerelac.
Nestle India faced a more daunting challenge in 2015 with the Maggi crisis. Cut to 2024, India has emerged as the world’s largest market for Maggi.
India is a priority market where it is executing an accelerated investment plan. Irrespective of the controversy, the rm seems to be going full steam ahead with new bets, announced last week, with a strong focus on tapping growing demand for premium products.
(The writer is with The Hindu businessline)