Nestle Baby Products Compliant With Added-Sugar Provisions: Health Minister

Nestlé's baby product has been found to be in compliance with the added-sugar provisions under the Food Safety and Standards (Foods for Infant Nutrition) Regulations, Health Minister JP Nadda informed the Lok Sabha on Friday.

In a written response to a query, Nadda explained that the infant nutrition regulations set specific standards for various categories of infant food and formula. He said the sugar limits prescribed for infant food products aligned with global standards, including those set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which takes into account recommendations from the World Health Organization.

The minister also clarified that following a media report, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India took a suo motu cognizance of concerns raised by Swiss investigative agency Public Eye and International Baby Food Action Network regarding the added sugar-content in a wheat-based baby product.

Inspections were conducted from April 29–30 at manufacturing sites engaged in production of the infant food product in the country.

Based on scrutiny of the product, added sugar per serving was found to be in compliance with the provisions under infant nutrition regulations, Nadda said.

In response to the controversy, a spokesperson for Nestle India had claimed earlier that the company reduced the total amount of added sugars in its infant cereal portfolio by 30% over the past five years, and it continued to "review" and "reformulate" products to reduce them further.

After the incident, Nestle said it would will launch new variants of Cerelac that contain zero refined sugar. The cereal-based food range offered to the country will now have a total of 21 variants, of which 14 would be refined sugar-free.

Out of the 14 non-refined sugar variants, seven were expected to be rolled out in the markets by the end of November, while the other half will be available in the following weeks.

(With Inputs From PTI)