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Nestlé’s global tagline is ‘Good food, Good life’.

Nowhere did the company say ‘healthy life’ and it’s a good thing it didn’t, because that’s far from the case.

The world’s largest food company has now acknowledged, via an internal document, that more than 60% of its mainstream food and drinks products don’t meet a “recognised definition of health”.

The document goes a step further and says that no matter how much the company ‘renovates’, some of their categories and products  “will never be ‘healthy’”.

More from The Irish Times:

A presentation circulated among top executives early 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…

Nestlé, the maker of KitKats, Maggi noodles and Nescafe, describes the 3.5 star threshold as a “recognised definition of health”.

That star rating is out of five, and is used by international research groups such as the Access to Nutrition Foundation.

The internal document is a bit of a blow to the company, with a push underway to try and battle obesity through the promotion of healthy eating habits.

96% of beverages, aside from pure coffee, and 99% of Nestlé’s confectionery and ice cream portfolio, fell short of the threshold.

That’s to be expected, but only 82% of waters and 60% of dairy products did meet the threshold:

The data excludes baby formula, pet food, coffee, and the health science division, which makes foods for people with specific medical conditions. This means the data accounts for about half of Nestlé’s 92.6 billion Swiss francs (€84.35 billion) total annual revenues…

The aptly named Marion Nestle  – who is in no way connected to the company, but is a visiting professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University – said Nestlé and similar companies would always struggle to make their ranges healthier:

“Nestlé is a very smart company, at least from my meetings with people who are in their science [departments] . . . but they have a real problem . . . Scientists have been working for years to try to figure out how to reduce the salt and sugar content without changing the flavour profile and, guess what, it’s hard to do.”

I don’t believe you’re ever going to be able to make a Kit Kat, or an Aero, or a Peppermint Crisp, anything less than a very guilty pleasure.

In response to the document going public, Nestlé said that it believes “that a healthy diet means finding a balance between wellbeing and enjoyment… [which] includes having some space for indulgent foods, consumed in moderation.”

Therein lies the kicker – everything in moderation.

[source:irishtimes]