Nestlé publishes nutrition and health commitments

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Nestlé has a track record of measuring performance and reporting on it for many years. A new dimension is sharing these commitments with the public and stakeholders. “Nestlé wants to make an impact by setting tangible, nutrition-related short-term goals and being held accountable to them, rather than just committing to long-term aspirations,” continued Khan.

The Nestlé Nutrition Commitments are being rolled out globally, and those relevant to South Africa include:

• Building knowledgeable leadership in children’s nutrition: Nestlé continuously undertakes studies to understand more about the feeding behaviours of mothers and children;

• Leading the industry in nutrition and health research through collaboration: Nestlé South Africa’s recent and ongoing collaboration with the Council for Scientific Research (CSIR) – South Africa’s central and premier scientific research and development organisation – has led to the development of Maggi 2 Minute Noodles with real Morogo – an indigenous green, leafy vegetable that is sourced in South Africa. Locally sourced produce allows Nestlé South Africa to invest and support the local community;

• Providing nutritionally sound products designed for children: Nestlé has established nutrient profiling to ensure that 100% of its children’s portfolio meets the criteria. This includes reducing sugar, total fat including saturated fat, total energy and sodium without affecting taste;

• Helping to reduce the risk of under-nutrition through micro-nutrient fortification: Nestlé South Africa provides 5.8 million fortified servings per day and 2.1 billion fortified servings per year. Micro-nutrient deficiencies – a lack of essential vitamins and minerals required in small amounts by the body for proper growth and development – are rife in countries around the world. In South Africa, the biggest micro-nutrient deficiency concerns are zinc, iron, vitamin A and, most recently, calcium. Nestlé’s products are carefully considered to deliver the micro-nutrients to close these gaps;

• Reducing sodium (salt), sugar, saturated fats and trans-fats in our products: All Nestlé products meet the 2016 South African Department of Health (DOH) targets for salt and sodium. Nestlé is further committed to reducing salt, sugar and fats by 10% annually. All Nestlé products are trans-fat free;

• Encouraging the consumption of whole grains and vegetables: Most Nestlé cereals in South Africa have whole grain as the main ingredient, with at least 8g of whole grain per serving cereal. The recommendation is three servings of whole grains per day;

• Delivering nutrition information and advice on all our labels: As part of Nestlé’s commitment to helping consumers make informed decisions, Nestlé South Africa champions the Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs), a labelling guide to help consumers make informed choices about the food they eat. GDAs help consumers to know what is contained in one serving of a product they’re consuming, thus making sense of nutritional information provided on food labels. Nestlé has, over the years, taken a number of important steps, including product and packaging innovations, with the addition of the Nutritional Compass, an on-pack information panel, on all Nestlé products. This provides consumers with relevant, easy-to-understand nutrition information while empowering them to make informed decisions about their food choices;

• Suggesting serving sizes for consumers: In the past decade a culture of ‘up-sizing’ has occurred globally. The effect of this trend leads to obesity, as appropriate serving sizes are not understood. Nestlé’s goal is to make eating the right amount as easy as possible. Nestlé South Africa commits to making understanding serving size intuitive and the company aims to simplify this through providing on-pack communication;

• Endorsing healthy diets and lifestyles, including physical activity: The Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme, a global nutritional education programme for children aged six to 12 years old. This programme was launched in South Africa in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in 2012. The programme promotes nutrition education in primary schools across the country while also driving the importance of physical activity. More than 15,000 learners in SA have since been through the Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme;

• Supporting and creating education programmes for good nutrition and feeding practices: Nestlé has educational programmes targeted at health-care professionals involved in implementing good feeding practices within the first 1000 days of life; and

• Ensuring responsible marketing communication to children: Nestlé adheres to the Code of Conduct for Responsible Marketing to Children.

Khan emphasised that the nutrition and environment challenges the world faces require concerted, collective, collaborative and sustained action from governments, business, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders, rather than sporadic, isolated projects.

In 2016, Nestlé celebrates its 100th anniversary of operating in South Africa. This anniversary provides a great platform for Nestlé South Africa to celebrate its commitment to nutrition, health and wellness.

For more information on Nestlé, go to www.nestlé.co.za and www.nestléwellness.co.za.