Experts say there can be long-term health consequences for babies and infants who consume too much sugar at a young age.

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.

  • manucodeEnglish
    17•7 months ago

    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.

    • NoIWontPickAName
      6•7 months ago

      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

    • @RidcullyTheBrownEnglish
      0•7 months ago

      1. adding sugar to baby food is not necessarily illegal

      2. 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.

      3. 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.