Nestlé, the food company that owns the Nescafé, cereal and chocolate brands, among other products, acknowledged that more than 60% of its portfolio of conventional food and beverages fail to meet the “recognized definition of health”, given that only 37 % of Nestlé food and beverages, excluding products such as pet food and specialty medical nutrition, achieve a rating above 3.5 according to Australia’s health star rating system.
In a document addressed to senior executives to which the Financial Times newspaper had access, the company that owns La Lechera declares that some of the categories of its products will not be healthy, regardless of the attempts to renew them, while about 70% will not they met the threshold of Australian system ratings, along with 96% of beverages, excluding plain coffee, and 99% of Nestlé’s ice cream and confectionery portfolio.
“We have made significant improvements to our products, but our portfolio still underperforms external definitions of health in a landscape where regulatory pressure and consumer demands are skyrocketing,” the filing says according to a quote from Financial Times .
This document comes to the fore when in Europe and Mexico nutriscore and front labeling are promoted, respectively, standards aimed at combating obesity and informing consumers about critical ingredients, such as sugars or saturated fats, in some foods and beverages. .
Water and dairy products performed better: 82% of the waters and 60% of the dairy products reached the threshold. The data excludes baby formula, pet food, coffee, and the health sciences division, which makes food for people with specific medical conditions. This means that the data represents about half of the total annual revenue of 92.6 billion Swiss francs.
The British newspaper adds that the company updates its internal nutrition standards, known as the Nestlé Nutritional Foundation, which were presented under former CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who characterized Nestlé as a “nutrition, health and wellness company”, therefore that one option could be to remove or replace these standards for products considered candy, such as candy.
Meanwhile, Nestlé declares that it is working on a project to update its pioneering nutrition and health strategy. “We are looking at our entire portfolio at different stages of people’s lives to ensure that our products help meet their nutritional needs and support a balanced diet.”
