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Nestlé
Overview
Nestlé is an international food and drink processing company that is headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. Measured by revenue and other metrics, Nestlé is considered to be the largest publicly held food and drink company in the world. In 2020, Nestlé was reported to have placed top 50th in the Forbes Global 2000, amassing annual sales of over US$1 billion.
“Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé” was founded in 1867 by German-born Swiss confectioner Henri Nestlé. In 1905, “Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé” merged with the “Anglo-Swiss Milk Company”, which was established in 1866 by brothers George and Charles Page, forming Nestlé.
Controversies
Breast milk substitutes
Nestlé has been alledged by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) distributes free formula samples to hospitals and maternity wards. Moreover, Nestlé used mass-marketing like billboards, as well as the use of sales people dressed as so-called “milk nurses” were sent to visit mothers in hospital and at their home to praise the baby formula and its benefits.
After leaving the hospital, the formula is no longer free, however, the supplementation interferes with lactation, forcing families to buy the formula and be reliant on Nestlé.
In 1973, New Internationalist journal released an article about Nestlé's marketing technique. In 1974, the British non-profit organization War On Want issued a booklet titled The Baby Killer, raising concerns. In combination with court challenges against Nestlé, the widespread controversy led to the launch of the 1977 Nestlé boycott in Minneapolis, USA, by the Infant Formula Action Coalition (INFACT), soon spreading to other Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Europe.
Water
Statement on Water
At the second World Water Forum in 2000, Nestlé persuaded the World Water Council to change its statement so as to reduce access to drinking water from a “right” to a “need”. Chairman of Nestlé Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, later changed his statement, saying in a 2013 interview, “I am the first one to say water is a human right.” In the same interview, he claimed that it was the “primary responsibility of every government” to provide 30 litres of water a day to citizens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9