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Nestle, the world’s largest consumer products company and provider of baby formula, is allegedly adding sugar to newborn milk sold in India, other Asian, and African countries. 🍼
A survey revealed that in India, where sales exceeded $250 million in 2022, all Cerelac (a Nestle product) baby cereals have added sugar
According to a shocking report from Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organization, Nestle added sugar in the form of sucrose or honey to samples of Nido, a follow-up milk formula brand designed for infants aged one and up, and Cerelac, a cereal aimed at children aged six months to two years.
The discovery came after the organization forwarded samples of the Swiss multinational’s baby-food items distributed in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to a Belgian laboratory for testing.
According to the survey, all Cerelac baby cereals in India, whose sales are expected to exceed $250 million by 2022, contain added sugar, with an average of approximately 3 grams per serving.
The similar issue exists in South Africa, Africa’s largest market, where all Cerelac baby cereals include four grams or more of added sugar per serving. In Brazil, the world’s second-largest market, with estimated sales of $150 million in 2022, three-quarters of Cerelac baby cereals (known as Mucilon in the country) contain added sugar, on average 3 grams per serving.
In Brazil, where Cerelac is branded as Mucilon, two of eight products were found to have no added sugar, while the other six included over 4g per serving. In Nigeria, one product tested contained up to 6.8g.
Meanwhile, tests on Nido products, which have global retail sales of more than $1 billion, revealed considerable variations in sugar levels.
In the Philippines, toddler-friendly products feature no added sugar. However, in Indonesia, Nido baby-food items sold as Dancow contained approximately 2g of added sugar per 100g of product in the form of honey, or 0.8g each serving.
In Mexico, two of the three Nido products for toddlers contained no added sugar, while the third contained 1.7g per serving. The Nido Kinder 1+ products supplied in South Africa, Nigeria, and Senegal all contained roughly 1g per serving, according to the research.
