Nestle has adopted a health mission under which the company is reducing salt and sodium content in its Maggi noodles and cutting sugar by about 10% in KitKat chocolate and dairy products, and stepping up portion control in Munch chocolates, extending to India its ambitious commitment made last week to make healthier products.
The company will extend its ‘health drive’ to other product categories as well like dairy items such as yoghurt and infant cereal Cerelac, will now make low-sugar and low-salt variants.
The company has announced a series of global commitments to reduce sugars, sodium, saturated fats and trans-fats, introduce nutritious products, step up food fortification, remove artificial colours, restrict marketing to children, step up nutrition data on packs at points of sale and online, and disseminate information on portion control.
Suresh Narayanan, Managing director, Nestle said, “Earlier, the level of innovation was low, maybe because the market was not ready for the products. Now, innovation has been stepped up in a meaningful way as many matrices such as premiumisation, urbanisation, dual working families and health indulgence are favourable.”
Company spokesperson said, “We are looking at fortification in our mass consumption products as well and are committed to removing artificial colours. We are providing consumers with nutrition information on food labels, guidance on daily intake for energy and key nutrients and portion guidance.”
A statement on the Nestle website says the company will gradually increase guidance on portions through products, packs and dispensers.
“We will extend our guidance on portions to our consumer recipes, and relevant teenager and adult products by 2020,” the statement adds. It also says that by the same year, it will remove all artificial colours from its products.
By 2020, the company proposes to provide detailed product nutrition facts on its packs and eretailer sites.