60% of its food products not health, Maggie-maker Nestle says in its internal report

June 2: The worlds largest food company, Nestle, has acknowledged that more than 60 per cent of its mainstream food and drinks products do not meet a “recognised definition of health” and that “some of our categories and products will never be ‘healthy no matter how much we renovate”, the Financial Times reported. The report further stated that 96% of Nestlé’s beverages, excluding pure coffee, and 99% of its confectionery and ice-cream portfolio failed to meet a recognised definition of health.

Nestle, which makes Maggi noodles, KitKat and Nescafe, in an internal document admitted that more than 70% of its food and drinks portfolio do not meet the “recognised definition of health”. A presentation circulated among top executives this year, seen by the Financial Times, says only 37 per cent of Nestlé’s food and beverages by revenues, excluding products such as pet food and specialised medical nutrition, achieve a rating above 3.5 under Australia’s health star rating system.

The company considered 3.5-star rating as the “recognised definition of health”. The system rates foods on a scale of 5 stars and is used by international groups as the benchmark. “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,” quoted FT from the presentation. The paper said this assessment applied to about half of Nestlé’s overall portfolio because categories like medical nutrition, pet food, coffee and infant formula were excluded from the analysis.

After the damaging FT report, the Swiss company in a statement said it was working on a “company-wide project” to update its nutrition and health strategy and was looking at its entire portfolio to make sure its products helped meet people’s nutritional needs.

In India, Nestle is one of the leading players into the packaged food category. It presently operates eight production units in India and had reported net sales of ₹13,290.16 crore for 2020. The Indian market was ranked at number 11 in terms of contribution to Nestle’s global revenue in 2020.