Experts say there can be long-term health consequences for babies and infants who consume too much sugar at a young age.
In Switzerland, the label of Nestlé’s Cerelac baby cereal says it contains “no added sugar.” But in Senegal and South Africa, the same product has 6 grams of added sugar per serving, according to a recent Public Eye investigation. And in the Philippines, one serving of a version of the Cerelac cereal for babies 1 to 6 months old contains a whopping 7.3 grams of added sugar, the equivalent of almost two teaspoons.
This “double standard” for how Nestlé creates and markets its popular baby food brands around the world was alleged in a report from Public Eye, an independent nonpartisan Swiss-based investigative organization, and International Baby Food Action Network.
The groups allege that Nestlé adds sugars and honey to some of its baby cereal and formula in lower-income countries, while products sold in Europe and other countries are advertised with “no added sugars.” The disparities uncovered in the report, which was published in the BMJ in April, has raised alarms among global health experts.
But as long as our major politicians are Republicans and neoliberals, nothing is going to change.
Those poorer countries have governments too. They should be the first line of defense for their citizens. Fuck Nestle and all their products, but the reality is that there’s absolutely nothing a foreign power can do to protect the people living in those countries
There was a great John Oliver episode about how Cigarettes are sold in African and South Asian countries. Any effort to regulate the market, like introducing warning labels, limiting tobacco ads, or even just disallowing the sale of individual cigarettes in front of schools, was immediately met with huge backlashes by big tobacco.
If your countries GDP is 5 Billion US-D and Phil Morris has a turnover of 80 Billions US-D plus the lobbying power to have the US or EU threaten sanctions against that country, it is pretty darn difficult to provide the same level of consumer protection laws.
Don’t blame the countries that are on the short end of neocolonialism, when your government is complicit in it.
Incorrect.
You blame everyone involved in the bad things they are doing and do your best to hold them responsible.
You can only hold people responsible for things they actually have the power to decide on. But if they tried and they are pressured not to change something then the blame lies solely with the people that pressure them.
You could pass legislation that requires corporations not to do harmful activities in other countries if these activities are illegal in your country. If a corporation does such an activity abroad it would still be prosecuted as a crime in your country. If a corporation doesn’t want to subject itself to such accountability, it would have to stop doing business in your country.
We usually have those, our overlords don’t enforce or selectively them.
So , the only halfway effective method we have is to not give them our money.
Is it super effective? Nah
But has it saved them getting probably 10’s of thousands of my dollars over the years.
I miss crunch bars, Kit Kats, stouffers pizzas, and especially tollhouse cookies, but they are baby killers, and one of the worst possible ways to die in to boot.
Fuck em, and do your part even if no one else is
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adding sugar to baby food is not necessarily illegal
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there is already legislation which prevents companies from engaging in illegal activities overseas but it’s really not efficient since it is so easy to offload any illegal activity to a locally owned company. This is more about human rights abuse and illegal lobbying than product quality control though.
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there is nothing forcing multinational corporations to act as a unique global entity when it comes to quality control and any attempt to enforce such legislation would just be quickly sidestepped with local subsidiaries.
Really, the only defense for the locals is the local government. As it should be.
This.
Nestle products comply with European law in Europe. Nestle products comply with Senegalese law in Senegal. Nestle products comply with South African law in South Africa.
When companies use ingredients that are banned in Europe to produce food for American markets, (brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, BHA, BHT, etc), we point the finger at lax American regulators for allowing it. When Nestle produces food for African markets that doesn’t meet European standards, we don’t blame African regulators.
Corporations do depend on money, so every bit of money you don’t give to Nestlé reduces their power just a tiny bit. Nestlé is a difficult company to boycott though, because they own so many brands.
Most of their brands are crap products though. I’m sure I’m not 100% successful,but I mostly cook my own fresh foods, and if you eliminate most of the processed “food” from your diet, its a great big step. I still eat cheetos and pork rinds and potato chips though.
Those poorer countries can’t
I wish I could find it but there was a palm oil company that was banned from an island and they just ignored it
Nestle most probably just buys local factories which already produce this crap and rebrands it. Even if Nestle would be forbidden from doing business in those countries, the locals would not be any better off. They really need their authorities to step in. There’s no other way.
Sanctions.
If America told Nestle and other corporations that if you’re committing human rights abuses anywhere, you’re not welcome in our markets.
It’s not some impossible thing.
It’s just something that isn’t possible till we have politicians who represent voters more than corporations.
We need progressive majorities for that. But shit can be better
No you don’t understand, America = bad. If someone is doing something wrong it must be Americas fault or I must find some way to shoehorn politics into every conversation.
America and the EU are imposing the economic and political order that gives those companies leverage over small countries and blocks them from consumer protection or worker protection legislation. Heck, the US invaded foreign countries more than once to make sure their companies get to maximize profits, while making the people suffer.
America and the EU are imposing the economic and political order that gives those companies leverage over small countries and blocks them from consumer protection or worker protection legislation.
What on earth are you on about? The EU lobbies world wide for consumer and worker protection. Where are you getting your info from?
Nestle is a swiss company. They do business in the US, but that doesn’t make them a US company anymore that Pepsico or Kraft-Heinz are European.
The US does have immense economic sway, but it’s already difficult enough to craft and enforce laws punishing American companies for violating international and certain domestic laws overseas.
Laws controlling the actions of foreign companies doing business in the US who complied with local laws in a third country in a fashion that violates US dietary norms is going to be very difficult.
Also, I totally get that Evil American Business person is a media trope around the world for a reason, but common, we’re not Nestle bad. We have standards.
The American way is to find a way to monetize breastfeeding. Giving away months worth of product is just inefficient.
