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.
Nestle is a swiss company. They do business in the US, but that doesn’t make them a US company anymore that Pepsico or Kraft-Heinz are European.
The US does have immense economic sway, but it’s already difficult enough to craft and enforce laws punishing American companies for violating international and certain domestic laws overseas.
Laws controlling the actions of foreign companies doing business in the US who complied with local laws in a third country in a fashion that violates US dietary norms is going to be very difficult.