Nestle adds sugar to infant milk and cereal products sold in India and several other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, violating international norms, according to a study.
The revelation came after Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organisation, and International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) sent samples of Nestle baby food products in Asia, Africa and Latin America to Belgian laboratary for testing.
According to the investigation, 15 Cerelac baby cereal products sold in India contain added sugar amounting to nearly 3 gram per serving. In 2022, the company made a revenue of Rs 20,000 crore in India.
In Brazil, six of the Cerelac (known locally as Mucilon) products contained around 4 gram sugar per serving. In Ethiopia, it went up to 5 gram while in Thailand it was an alarming 6 gram for each serving. In Nigeria, one of the products contained up to 6.8 gram sugar. The amount of added sugar is reportedly not mentioned in the packaging of these products.
Contrary to this, the cereals for children aged six months to two years sold by Nestle in European countries like the UK, France and Germany had no added sugar.
Laurent Gaberell, Public Eye’s agriculture and nutrition expert, said: “Nestle must put an end to these dangerous double standards and stop adding sugar in all products for children under three years old, in every part of the world.”
Experts have warned that adding sugar to baby products can lead to obesity at a young age and chronic diseases at later stages in life.
A Nestle India spokesperson said the company has followed all local regulations and international standards. "We believe in the nutritional quality of our products for early childhood and prioritise using high-quality ingredients. Over the past five years, Nestle India has reduced added sugars by up to 30 per cent, depending on the variant, in our infant cereals portfolio (milk cereal based complementary food). We regularly review our portfolio and continue to innovate and reformulate our products to further reduce the level of added sugars without compromising on quality, safety and taste," the spokesperson added.
