Nestlé will end the practice of adding sugar to its baby food products by the end of the year, it has announced, after an investigation exposed variations in the sugar content of its formulations in different regions, with poorer regions’ products having more sugar.
After analysing more than 150 Nestlé baby formula products, Public Eye, a Swiss-based NPO, in collaboration with the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), revealed that the food giant added an average of four grams of sugar per serving to one of its best-selling baby formula products sold in poorer regions, including South Africa, but no sugar was added to products sold in wealthier markets like Switzerland.
Another popular brand, Nido, contained an average of two grams of added sugar per serving, reports News24.
In South Africa, all Cerelac varieties tested locally were found contain more than four grams of added sugar per serving, and an average of 0.9 grams for Nido.
An average cube of sugar contains between three to five grams of sugar.
Nestlé spokesperson for East and Southern Africa Mota Mota told News24 at the time that the slight recipe variations did not affect the nutritional integrity of the product.
Now, however, he has said the company plans to remove added sugar from all of its “growing-up milk” – designed for children older than 12 months – by the end of the year.
He said there was already no added sugar in formulations designed for children under 12 months.
“For the so-called growing up milks, for children older than one year, we started to phase out added sugars some time ago and most of these products do not contain refined sugar. We aim to reach 100% by the end of the year.” This did not include medical formulations, which were typically used under the supervision of a healthcare professional.
He said the goal was to remove added sugar from all applicable products by year-end.
Nestlé infant milk products were available with or without added sugar in many parts of the world, and the goal was to have products without added sugar available in every region where the company sells infant and nutrition products, he said, denying double standard were being applied.
That said, the investigation pointed out that adding sugar to baby food products was a violation of health guidance.
The investigation stated that the WHO had been calling for a ban on added sugar in products for babies and children under three since 2022.
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