The world’s largest packaged food and beverages company Nestle has been facing criticism following an internal analysis that showed that a majority of its mainstream food and drinks collection is harmful. The company is presently in damage restraint form and said that it will act on renewing its nutrition and health policy. An internal document obtained by the Financial Times newspaper reported a huge part of Nestle’s food and drinks as unhealthy. The report was an in-house presentation distributed among the company’s prime officials early in 2021. It showed that more than 60 percent of Nestle’s food and drinks products could not be regarded wholesome under a “recognized definition of health”.The firm also showed in the internal report that some of its sections will “never be healthy”.
“Some of our categories and products will never be ‘healthy’ no matter how much we renovate,” said the Nestle internal presentation. The document also emphasized that the evaluation administered to about half of Nestle’s complete portfolio as sections like medical nutrition, pet food, coffee, and infant formula were omitted from the study. Out of the food and beverage evaluated, 37 percent obtained a rating over 3.5 under Australia’s health star rating scheme. The policy marks food out of five stars and is used in the analysis by international organizations such as the Access to Nutrition Foundation.
In the document, Nestle reported the 3.5-star outset as a “recognized definition of health”. About 70 percent of Nestle’s food products and 96 percent of beverages excluding pure coffee lost to satisfy the inception. Moreover, 99 percent of Nestle’s bakery and ice cream portfolio also lost to meet the threshold rank. Only the water and daily products of the company obtained a better score, with 82 percent of waters and 60 percent of dairy meeting the 3.5-star ranking. Nestle noticed in the document that the company’s food portfolio still underperforms against obvious interpretations of health.“We have made significant improvements to our products…[but] our portfolio still underperforms against external definitions of health in a landscape where regulatory pressure and consumer demands are skyrocketing,” the internal presentation described.
As per the report, some of the company’s stocks such as DiGiorno’s three meat croissant crust pizza hold about 40 percent of a person’s advised daily sodium consumption while others like hot pockets pepperoni pizza include 48 percent. Another Nestle product, the orange-flavored San Pellegrino drink, gets an ‘E’ rating, which is the most harmful mark available under a separate scoring system, Nutria-Score. The drink holds more than 7.1 grams of sugar per 100 ml. Many other Nestle food and beverages contain raised levels of sugar or sodium.
The statement appears at a time when the producer of Maggi noodles, KitKat, and other famous products is seeking to promote healthier consumption. The firm has previously said that it is renewing its nutrition and health policy. The food goliath said it is operating on a “company-wide” project to modernize nutrition and health plan. The group is also renewing its internal nutrition criteria.“We are looking at our entire portfolio across the different phases of people’s lives to ensure our products are helping meet their nutritional needs and supporting a balanced diet,” Nestle said after the report.
“Our efforts build on a strong foundation of work over decades…For example, we have reduced the sugars and sodium in our products significantly in the past two decades, about 14-15 percent in the past seven years alone,” it said.“We believe that a healthy diet means finding a balance between well-being and enjoyment. This includes having some space for indulgent foods, consumed in moderation. Our direction of travel has not changed and is clear: we will continue to make our portfolio tastier and healthier,” it added.
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