By: Natasha Archary

Swiss food giant Nestlé has found itself in hot waters after a damning report finds that the company has been lacing its baby food range with sugar in South Africa and other middle-income countries.
The report by Public Eye and International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) found that unlike the brands range of products in the UK which has no added sugar, there are high quantities of sugar in products sold in SA, Thailand, Ethiopia, Pakistan and India.

Nestlé says it “has reduced by 11% the total amount of added sugars in [its] infant cereal portfolio worldwide” over the past decade and that it will “further reduce the level of added sugars without compromising on quality, safety and taste”.
However, Professor of Public Health at the University of Witwatersrand, Karen Hofman says it’s a double standard rooted in colonization that should not be tolerated.
“I do not understand why products for sale in South Africa should be different from those that are sold in high-income settings.
It’s a form of colonization and should not be tolerated. There is no valid reason to add sugar to baby food anywhere.”
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has asked the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to conduct a thorough review of the sugar content in baby food formulas, following a report exposing the presence of high levels of sugar in Nestle’s Cerelac. pic.twitter.com/9qPPECTRTd
— The Better India (@thebetterindia) April 20, 2024
Apart from the Nestlé Cerelac range, the brand’s NIDO powdered milk range for children aged 1-year and older, is also laced with sugar.
Nestlé claims that instead of sucrose, honey is added to the NIDO milk powders because “it’s healthier.”
A claim that the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not support because there are “no scientific health benefits to honey” as both (sucrose and honey) can contribute “to weight gain and possibly obesity”.
The report highlights the risks to babies and children consuming sugar from such a young age, which includes an addiction to sugar, diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
Also read: Where’s Bester? Fire breaks out at Kgosi Mampuru prison



