The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Nestle rushes to damage control; says working on 'new healthier foods strategy'

    Synopsis

    Recent moves by Nestle India in this direction have included expanding its Munch chocolate franchise with fruits and nuts, a spinach-infused Maggi noodles variant and health drink Milo with nine micronutrients.

    Nestle-123Agencies
    Recent moves by Nestle India in this direction have included expanding its Munch chocolate franchise with fruits and nuts, a spinach-infused Maggi noodles variant and health drink Milo with nine micronutrients.
    Nestle, the world’s largest packaged foods company, on Monday rushed to control damage from a report on an internal presentation that stated that more than 60% of its mainstream food and drinks portfolio was unhealthy.

    The Swiss company said it is “working on a new strategy”, amid mounting international pressure and scrutiny over its portfolio of foods and beverages.

    A spokesperson for its local unit, Nestle India, which makes Maggi noodles and Kitkat and Munch chocolate, said: “We are constantly striving to increase the nutrient profile of our products, as well as innovate with new and nutritious offerings.”

    Recent moves by Nestle India in this direction have included expanding its Munch chocolate franchise with fruits and nuts, a spinach-infused Maggi noodles variant and health drink Milo with nine micronutrients.

    The Financial Times reported that it had seen an internal presentation circulated among Nestle’s top executives earlier this year, which said that more than 60% of its mainstream food and drinks portfolio could not be considered healthy under a "recognised definition of health”. The report cited the internal document as stating that “some of our categories and products will never be ‘healthy’ no matter how much we renovate”.

    According to the FT report, the internal Nestle presentation also said: “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 stakes for Nestle to escalate its portfolio transformation to healthier products are as high in India as globally.

    Nestle India, which follows a January-December financial year and leads packaged foods in the country, competes aggressively with ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Amul, Mondelez and PepsiCo across its mainstay categories such as instant noodles, coffee, chocolates, dairy whiteners and breakfast mixes. While the company reported double-digit growth for its mainstay brands Maggi instant noodles, Nescafe Classic coffee, Milkmaid condensed milk and KitKat chocolate for the first quarter ended March 2021, it flagged operating volatility and headwinds in commodity and packaging materials as concerns amid the ongoing pandemic.

    A Nestle SA spokesperson said the company is focusing on assessing the part of its food and beverage portfolio across all markets which can be measured “against external nutrition profiling systems and that it will continue to make its portfolio healthier”.

    Processed foods companies are increasingly under pressure to transform their global portfolios. The Nestle SA spokesperson said the foods maker has reduced sugar and sodium in its products “significantly” in the past two decades, about 14-15% of which it did in the past seven years. It said it has launched “thousands of products for kids and families that meet external nutrition yardsticks”, and will adapt to systems such as 'health star ratings' and 'nutri-scores' to make informed choices. The foods maker added that such assessments applied to only about half of its overall portfolio because categories like medical nutrition, pet food, coffee and infant formula were excluded from the analysis.



    (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
    (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News Budget 2024 News, Budget 2024 Live Coverage, Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    ...more

    (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
    (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News Budget 2024 News, Budget 2024 Live Coverage, Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in