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Nestle India on Monday said that it is working on increasing the nutrient profile of its products following international media reports that an internal document of the Swiss packaged food major described a large portion of its food portfolio as being unhealthy.
“Nestlé India believes that nutrition is a fundamental need and the food industry has a vital role to play in enabling healthier lives. Driven by our purpose, we are constantly striving to increase the nutrient profile of our products, as well as innovate with new and nutritious offerings,” a spokesperson for Nestle India said.
The Financial Times said it had seen an internal presentation circulated among top executives early this year stating that more than 60% of Nestle's mainstream food and drinks portfolio could not be considered healthy under a "recognised definition of health".
Nutrition project
In a global statement, parent Nestle S.A. said that it is working on a project to update its nutrition and health strategy that includes reduction in sugar and sodium of its products. “We are looking at our entire portfolio across the different phases of people’s lives to ensure our products are helping meet their nutritional needs and supporting a balanced diet. Our efforts build on a strong foundation of work over decades to improve the nutritional footprint of our products. For example, we have reduced the sugars and sodium in our products significantly in the past two decades, about 14-15 per cent in the past 7 years alone,” it said.
“As we consider our future nutrition strategy, we are first focusing on assessing our food and beverage portfolio, that can be measured against external nutrition profiling systems. Systems like the Health Star Rating and Nutri-Score are useful in this regard and enable consumers make informed choices. However, they don’t capture everything. About half of our sales are not covered by these systems. That includes categories such as infant nutrition, specialised health products and pet food, which follow regulated nutrition standards,” Nestle S.A added.
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