Nestlé revamps nutritional reporting amid criticism over healthier food efforts

SWITZERLAND – Vevey-based multinational company has announced that it’s changing how it reports the nutritional value of its products to enhance transparency and address criticism.

CEO Laurent Freixe stated that Nestle, as a company that delivers products & services at scale that make balanced diets accessible to people around the world, transparent discussions with stakeholders are a must.

He added that starting with the next non-financial report, the company would evolve its nutrition reporting.

“We will complement our existing reporting with new data that is aligned with the scope of the ATNi (Access to Nutrition initiative), include a sales-weighted average measure both for relevant categories, and for the total portfolio. Lastly, we will continue to use the government-approved Health Star Rating system as the basis of our nutrition profile reporting,” he said.

This move comes after Investment non-profit ShareAction criticised Nestlé for how it measures and reports sales from nutritious products.

It noted last year that Nestlé included items under its “nutritious” category, such as coffee, infant food and milk formula for young children, despite the Health Star Rating system not applying to these products nor being recommended by health professionals.

ShareAction asked the CPG giant to set targets to increase the proportion of its sales derived from better-for-you products to improve the company’s impact on public health. Nestlé shareholders overwhelmingly voted against the proposal.

Later on, Laurent had a meeting with ShareAction investors to discuss hashtag#nutrition, where both teams agreed to work together with two clear goals: to evolve Nestlé’s reporting on the nutritional value of the company’s portfolio and to make it easier for investors to compare companies & their portfolios across the food industry.

 Garance Boullenger, Healthy Markets Initiative Lead at ShareAction, said, “We welcome Nestlé’s decision to improve transparency on how many healthy product sales they are making following close engagement with investors on the issue. It sends a powerful message that the biggest food company in the world is setting a high standard for the industry on health and nutrition reporting.”

Boullenger called on other companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Mondelez to take responsibility for their role in the global health crisis.

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