Global food giant Nestlé faces scrutiny over differing sugar levels in its baby food products.

The world’s largest food company Nestlé has come under fire from the NGO Public Eye for adding sugar to its baby food products.

Particularly controversial: while the cereal porridges and follow-on milk products in Germany do not contain added sugar, Nestlé adds sugar to these products in third world and emerging countries.

According to the joint investigation by Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network (Ibfan), some products of the well-known Nestlé brands Cerelac and Nido contain an excessively high amount of sugar per serving.

Big Difference Between Countries

A comparison of the same Celerac product in different countries showed striking differences between the markets.

While the baby food contains no added sugar in countries such as Germany and the UK, it contains between 1.6 and 6.0 grams of sugar per portion in countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Ethiopia and Thailand. By comparison, a sugar cube in Switzerland weighs around 4 grams.

When asked, the company states that it adheres to the WHO guidelines. “Baby food is a highly regulated product group. Wherever we operate, our portfolio complies with either local regulations or international standards, including the thresholds for carbohydrate content, which includes sugar,” a spokesperson told the news agency AWP.

The company also states that it has “reduced the total amount of added sugar in the infant cereal portfolio by eleven percent worldwide over the last ten years”. In addition, the cereal products for infants are being further developed and reformulated “to further reduce the content of added sugars”.

©Keystone/SDA