Nestle, the world’s largest food company, has admitted that 63% of its food and beverage products do not meet health standards, and that some products will not become healthy food under any innovation.
The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 31st that it secured an internal document that only the top Nestle executives could read.
According to the document, only food and beverage products, which account for 37% of sales, were classified as healthy in Australia’s health horoscope classification system, excluding pet food and professional medical nutrition products. The system scores food and beverage products on a five-star basis and is used as official data by international organizations such as the Access to Nutrition Foundation.
Nestle unhealthy products
Nestle said in the document that only 37% of its food and beverage products exceeded 3.5 points in terms of sales, which can be classified as healthy food and beverage only when it receives 3.5 stars or higher. Based on Nestle’s food and beverage portfolio, 70% of all products received less than 3.5 stars.
In particular, 96% of beverages excluding pure coffee and 99% of snacks and ice cream failed to exceed the 3.5 star rating standard. In contrast, 82 percent of bottled water and 60 percent of dairy products received 3.5 points or higher. According to the analysis, baby products, pet food, and coffee, which account for about half of Nestle’s annual sales, were excluded.
The document said, “We have greatly improved our products, but our portfolio still has not met external standards for health in an environment where regulatory pressure and consumer demand are rapidly increasing.”
“We are making a company-wide effort to update our nutrition and health strategy,” Nestle said in a statement after the report. “We have significantly reduced sugar and sodium in our products over the past 20 years, especially in the last seven years alone.” “We will improve our portfolio so that it can taste better and become healthier,” he added. Nestle is expected to revise internal regulations on the nutritional value and ingredients of its products and unveil them this year.
Nestle, headquartered in Bebe, Switzerland, is the world’s largest food company and has a variety of brands, including KitKat (Chocolate), Milo (Chocolate Beverage), Perrier (carbonated water), Coffee Mate (Coffee Cream), and Nespresso (Capsule Coffee).
