Nestlé

Swiss food and beverage company

Nestlé is the world's largest food producer, by revenue. It was formed in the 1950s, when two companies merged. At the start in the 1860s, the company produced soluble milk that could be given to infants and babies. From about the 1930s, Nestlé also produced soluble coffee. In 2010, Nestle's revenue was about 109 billion Swiss Francs, and its net profit was about 32 billion Swiss Francs.

Nestlé S.A.
Company typeSociété Anonyme
SIXNESN
EuronextNESTS
IndustryFood processing
PredecessorQ5514334 Edit this on Wikidata
FoundedAnglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company
(1866)
Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé
(1867)
Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company
(1905)
FounderHenri Nestlé, Charles Page, George Page
HeadquartersVevey, Switzerland
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (Chairman)
Paul Bulcke (CEO)
Wan Ling Martello (CFO)
ProductsBaby food, coffee, dairy products, breakfast cereals, confectionery, bottled water, ice cream, pet foods (list...)
RevenueIncrease CHF 92.18 billion (2012)[1]
Increase CHF 14.44 billion (2012)[1]
Increase CHF 10.61 billion (2012)[1]
Total assetsIncrease CHF 126.22 billion (2012)[1]
Total equityIncrease CHF 62.60 billion (2012)[1]
Number of employees
Increase 352,000 (2019)
Websitewww.nestle.com
Nestlé's headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland

Products change

Nestlé currently owns over 2000 brands.[2][3] They own brands that manufacture coffee, bottled water, milkshakes and other beverages, breakfast cereals, infant foods, performance and healthcare nutrition, seasonings, soups and sauces, frozen and refrigerated foods, and pet food.[4]

Nestlé Bear Brand change

Bear Brand is a powdered milk.[5] It was introduced in 1976. It was owned by Nestlé.[6] It is a sterilized milk brand. The sterilized milk was introduced in 1906. The powdered milk was introduced in 1976. It is #6 among the top 50 "most popular fast-moving consumer goods" in the Philippines.[7]

Bear Brand is sold in Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Brunei, India, Yemen, Nepal, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Iran, Bhutan, Hong Kong and Afghanistan.

Controversies change

Infant formula products change

Food that is made to be used instead of breast milk is known as infant formula. There are many laws that regulate how infant formula products should be marketed. Nestlé's soluble milk is a product that falls under this definition. In the 1970s, Nestlé marketed its soluble milk to mothers with infants. This was also done in developing countries. The marketing campaign led to a boycott known as Nestlé boycott, which is still ongoing.[8] In 1981, the World Health Organisation published a guideline for advertising infant formula products.[9] Nestlé is being critizised because supposedly it does not respect this code of conduct. Nestlé's policy[10] states that breast-milk is the best food for infants, and that women who cannot or choose not to breast feed need an alternative to ensure that their babies are getting the nutrition they need. The problem is that mothers who stop breastfeeding will not be able to start again, after some time. They will become dependent on infant formula products to feed their babies.

Child Labour change

The 2010 documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate[11] found that Nestlé purchases cocoa beans from Ivory Coast plantations that use child slave labour. Most children are between twelve and fifteen years old. Some are trafficked from nearby countries.[12] The first allegations that child slavery is used in cocoa production appeared in 1998.[13] In late 2000, a BBC documentary reported the use of enslaved children in the production of cocoa in West Africa.[13][14][15] Other media also reported widespread child slavery and child trafficking in the production of cocoa.[16][17] In September 2001, Bradley Alford, chairman and CEO of Nestlé USA, signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol. The Harkin-Engel Protocol is an international agreement aimed at ending child labour in the production of cocoa.[18] It is commonly called the Cocoa protocol.

In convention 182, the International Labor Organization defines what it calls the "worst forms of child labour". The Harkin-Engel protocol specified a deadline in 2005, to eliminate these from cocoa production. Because the cocoa industry did not meet this deadline, a lawsuit was filed against Nestlé and others on behalf of three Malian children. The suit alleged the children were trafficked to the Ivory Coast, forced into slavery, and were frequently beaten on a cocoa plantation.[19][20]

In September 2010, the US District Court for the Central District of California found that corporations cannot be held liable for violations of international law and dismissed the suit. The case was appealed to the US Court of Appeals.[21][22]

A 2009 joint police operation conducted by INTERPOL and Ivorian law enforcement officers resulted in the rescue of 54 children and the arrest of eight people involved in the illegal recruitment of children.[23]

References change

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Annual Results 2012" (PDF). Nestlé. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  2. Smith, Aaron. "Nestle selling U.S. candy brands to Nutella company". CNNMoney. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  3. "From Milkmaids to Multinational Markets: Nestlé's Branding Story". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  4. "Annual Results 2014" (PDF). Nestlé. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  5. Nicolas, Bernadette D. (April 3, 2016). "Nestlé wages war versus waste in PH". Inquirer Business. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  6. Joseph G, Edison (April 4, 2016). "Bear Brand donates chairs to public schools thru 'Laki sa Tibay' campaign". Malaya Business Insight. Archived from the original on November 20, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  7. Diola, Camille (July 22, 2014). "Lucky Me! tops Philippines' 50 most popular brands". philstar.com. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  8. Tran, Mark. "Blogs.guardian.co.uk". London: Blogs.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  9. "International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes" (PDF). Retrieved 24 November 2010.
  10. "Baby Milk Issue Facts". New York. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  11. thedarksideofchocolate.org
  12. Romano, U. Roberto & Mistrati, Miki (Directors) (16 March 2010). The Dark Side of Chocolate (Television Production). Denmark: Bastard Films. Retrieved 28 Apr 2011.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Sudarsan Raghavan and Sumana Chatterjee (24 June 2001). "Slaves feed world's taste for chocolate: Captives common in cocoa farms of Africa". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on 17 September 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  14. "Combating Child Labour in Cocoa Growing" (PDF). International Labor Organization. 2005. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  15. Wolfe, David (2005). Naked chocolate. Shazzie. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1-58394-530-8. OCLC 794451103.
  16. Humphrey Hawksley (12 April 2001). "Mali's children in chocolate slavery". BBC News. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  17. Humphrey Hawksley (4 May 2001). "Ivory Coast accuses chocolate companies". BBC News. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  18. "Protocol for the growing and processing of cocoa beans and their derivative products in a manner that complies with ILO Convention 182 concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor" (PDF). International Cocoa Initiative. 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  19. Tex Dworkin (12 February 2007). "Delicious idea: End child slavery by eating chocolate". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  20. "On Halloween, Nestlé Claims no Responsibility for Child Labor". International Labor Rights Forum. 30 October 2006. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  21. "Amicus Brief in Doe v. Nestle". EarthRights International. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  22. Gwendolyn Wilber Jaramillo (19 September 2010). "Second Circuit Holds that Corporations are not Proper Defendants under the Alien Tort Statute". Foley and Hoag LLP. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  23. "Scores of children rescued from organized slave labour in INTERPOL-led operation conducted by Côte d'Ivoire police". INTERPOL. 3 Aug 2009. Archived from the original on 9 August 2009. Retrieved 28 Apr 2011.