Nestle has come under fire in the US for failing to sign up to an industry-wide effort to limit junk food advertising to children.
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More than 30 health and child advocacy organisations and US law makers have called on Nestle to join the Council of Better Business Bureau’s Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.
Thirteen major food companies, including Kraft Foods, Cadbury’s US unit Cadbury Adams, Mars and Hershey, have signed up to the initiative, which aims to set nutritional standards for foods marketed to children.
“Nestlé claims to be the world’s leading nutrition, health, and wellness company, but when it comes to food marketing to kids, Nestle is a laggard, not a leader,” Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said.
In Europe and Canada, the food giant has committed to similar initiatives, the CPSI pointed out.
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By GlobalDataLast December, food industry majors, including Nestle, pre-empted legislation in the EU by agreeing a deal to stop advertising junk food to children under 12.
Meanwhile, in Canada, Nestle has agreed to similar measures in a move initiated by Advertising Standards Canada.
“If Nestle can pledge to cut back on junk-food marketing in Canada, why not in the United States?” said US Representative Edward Markey. “Given the high rates of obesity in the US, American kids need the same protections.”
According to a recent CSPI assessment, 93% of Nestle foods and beverages marketed to children in the US “are of poor nutritional quality”.
