ALMOST 60% OF NESTLE'S MAINSTREAM FOOD AND DRINK PORTFOLIO DOES NOT FULFIL THE RECOGNISED DEFINITION OF HEALTH

Only 37% of Nestle’s food and drinks by sales received a rating of above 3.5 under Australia’s five-star health rating system, according to an internal presentation circulating among top executives earlier this year.

Nestle, the world’s largest food company, recently announced that it was working on a new nutrition strategy after the Financial Times published an internal document revealing that the majority of its foods and beverages were unhealthy. According to the British business daily, an internal presentation sent to top executives earlier this year found that more than 60% of Nestle’s mainstream food and drink portfolio did not fit the “recognized definition of health.”

According to the report, roughly 70% of food goods, 96 percent of drinks (excluding pure coffee), and 99 percent of the confectionery and ice cream portfolio failed to satisfy that level.

Nestle, which owns chocolate, coffee, and baby food brands, has been rearranging its activities for several years to focus more on health and wellbeing as customers reject frozen pizzas and sugary drinks. The Swiss firm has been putting a strong emphasis on vegetarian and vegan goods, among other things.

According to the FT, the Nestle presentation said, “We have made significant improvements to our products”. It added, “our portfolio still underperforms against external definitions of health in a landscape where regulatory pressure and consumer demands are skyrocketing.”

The company spokesperson said in a statement. “For example, we have reduced the sugars and sodium in our products significantly in the past two decades, about 14-15% in the past 7 years alone. In recent years, we have launched thousands of products for kids and families that meet external nutrition yardsticks. We have also distributed billions of micronutrient doses via our affordable and nutritious products. As we consider our future nutrition strategy, we are first focusing on assessing the part of our food and beverage portfolio that can be measured against external nutrition profiling systems”.