The Central Consumer Protection Authority has asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority to investigate claims that baby cereal products sold by Swiss food-processing conglomerate Nestlé in India contain added sugar, PTI reported on Friday.
The development comes after an investigation by the Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network found that Nestlé was selling products with added sugar to low-income countries. Experts maintain that sugar should not be added to foods fed to babies and young children because it is unnecessary and addictive.
However, infant cereals and formulas sold in the European market, including Switzerland, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, did not have any added sugar, the investigation found.
Public Eye is a Swiss non-governmental organisation campaigning for fair globalisation and the International Baby Food Action Network is a network of public interest groups working to reduce morbidity and mortality among infants and young children globally.
In response to the report, Consumer Affairs Secretary and Central Consumer Protection Authority chief Nidhi Khare told PTI that she had written to the Food Safety and Standards Authority “to take cognisance of the report on Nestlé’s baby product”.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also issued a notice to the Food Safety and Standards Authority about the report.
What the report said
According to the Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network report, all 15 Cerelac baby cereal products sold by Nestlé in India contain on average nearly three grams of added sugar per serving.
In South Africa too, all Cerelac baby cereals contain four grams or more of added sugar per serving and in Brazil, six out of eight such products sold by Nestlé contain an average of three grams of sugar per serving, they found.
On the other hand, infant cereals and formulas sold in the European market did not contain added sugar.
In a statement shared with Scroll on Thursday, a Nestlé India spokesperson said that the company’s “products manufactured in India are in full and strict compliance with CODEX standards [a commission established by the World Heath Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization] and local specifications [as required] pertaining to the requirements all nutrients including added sugars”.
The company added: “Over the past 5 years, we have already reduced added sugars by up to 30%, depending on the variant. We regularly review our portfolio and continue to innovate and reformulate our products to further reduce the level of added sugars, without compromising on nutrition, quality, safety, and taste.”
The report by the two organisations also showed that Cerelac wheat-based cereals, meant for consumption by six-month-old babies, contained over two grams of added sugar per serving in India, six grams in Brazil and over five grams in Ethiopia. The same product being sold in Germany and the United Kingdom did not contain any added sugar.
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