Nestle attempts to get its hands on damage control following the publication of an internal document that states that approximately 60% of its leading range of drinks and food contains “unhealthy.”
Nestle, the largest food and beverage processing company, has come accused of being a liar for an internal presentation. The company admitted that many of its main products don’t meet the “recognised definition of health.” The internal report first made available to The Financial Times stated that only 37 percent of the company’s food offerings were awarded the 3.5 rating or higher under the”health star” rating scheme. Maggi’s Maggi makers have acknowledged that a few of their products will “never be healthy” regardless of how they revamp their products. One of these products is their chocolate, which has excessive sugar; however, they have attempted to use nuts and fruit to address this issue.
The British financial report declared that this analysis applied to approximately half of the overall portfolio of Nestle since categories such as pet food, medical nutrition, pure coffee, and baby food were not included in the study. Jon Cox, a Kepler Cheuvreux analyst, stated that adding these categories would dramatically reduce the amount of food products that are considered to be unhealthy.
“Given the group’s confectionery, ice cream, and pizza businesses, the real figure for the group based on 2021 estimates would be 28%, which is hardly a surprise,” the executive stated in a note. The report may be a sign of changes in the portfolio of products, most notably the decision to leave mainstream confectionery.
The report said that 100% of their confectionary products and 96 % of their beverages were unhealthy. In total fighting fires, The internal presentation acknowledged that the portfolio is still not performing even after significant improvements to their products. A Nestle spokesperson has since released a global statement that they are drafting a company-wide plan to review their nutrition strategies. Nestle has also stated that they have cut down on the amount of sodium and sugar within their product by 14-15% over the last seven years and will continue improving their products’ health.
While this controversy isn’t far from the Maggi disaster they had to deal with in 2015, which shook their image and re-established themselves within the Indian Market, the company continues to take proactive actions to rectify the situation in India. In a recent interview with PTI, the spokesperson for Nestle India emphasized the importance of nutrition as a vital necessity and the extent that the industry plays in helping people lead healthier lifestyles. They also said that, currently, they are striving to improve the ratio of nutrients in their products and create new and healthy offerings.
The popularity of popular Indian brands like Maggi, Kit Kat, Nescafe, and more has resulted in India placing 11th in terms of contribution to the global revenue of Nestle in 2020.
