Nothing new”, is the thought that comes to our mind when we see the new Maggi controversy that has come to the light. Nestle has become the center of controversies globally. From its time of emergence till this date it has always been in the limelight because of its unethical conduct. Well, for the uninformed Indians, here we have some worse news, (the bad one was that Maggi got banned). The worse is that Nestle has had a shady past with bigger controversies to its name.
In the recent days, Maggi has been a subject of rigorous Television and social media debates. Maggi, a Nestle product is spread across the world and is sold in 9 variants. In India the product has been charged of containing Lead in an inappropriate amount and also the addition of MSG preservative which is not specified on the packet, making it extremely harmful for the consumption of the customers. After being loved for nearly 30 years it has now instilled a sense of fear amongst the people. Although the product has been banned in the country and all its variants have been recalled by the FSSAI, Nestlé’s CEO Paul Bulcke still repudiates the charges.
NESTLE’S REACTION- Paul Bulcke said that the prescribed procedure for the food security is same everywhere and the samples he got checked were seamlessly alright, but because of the loss of the goodwill in the nation they will cease the production and will come back yet again. The Switzerland based company which ruled the heart of the entire nation through this product is currently under prosecution and has been asked to withdraw all its Maggi variants from the markets.
1. Nestle’s Aggressive ‘Powdered Milk’ Campaign in Africa
The Maggi Controversy isn’t the first time that Nestle Company has brought itself under trial, the case of the infant deaths in Africa due to the substitution of breast feeding with the baby powder also created a plight. Worldwide doctors say that there is no substitute to breast feeding, it has many natural benefits and it also makes the child immune from various diseases since the essential hormones from the mother’s body gets transmitted to the infant’s body. Through this product Nestle surely did create a hype but unfortunately the reality turned out to be very appalling. It lead to the death of many infants because of various reasons.
Firstly, the product created by Nestle was supposed to be mixed in water and the cleanliness of water is a major issue in poor countries. Secondly, people who weren’t able to read the instruction and hence were not able to cater to what was written hence making the infants vulnerable. Nestle is at the target of boycott since it became the cause of a lot of deaths and pains of the infants around the world. Even after seeing the consequences, it performed aggressive marketing of its baby food, thereby breaching the international marketing standards.
NESTLE’S REACTION- Nestlé’s chairman Peter Brabeck even after seeing the reports of deaths of large number of infants claims that it protects the babies and is a gentle start.
2. Nestle’s misadventure with the kids
After all this Nestle is also infamous for making use of child labour for the collection of cocoa from the famous Ivory coast for the production of chocolate. A suit was filed against the company for the trafficking, torturing and forced child labour by children who cultivate and harvest cocoa beans that the company imports from Africa. It was reported by BBC that the children from Mali were trafficked to the Ivory Coast and were compelled to work under gruesome conditions. BBC reported via Fair Labour Association which said that Nestle is in constant violation of various child rights. A report by ILO estimated that nearly 3,00,000 children work in these farms.
NESTLE’s REACTION- The company denied these allegations and claimed in its defence that it doesn’t own any plantations. They also said that Nestle isn’t the only company who imports cocoa from the African Ivory coast and hence shouldn’t be blamed.
“One of Nestlé’s marketing strategies in third world countries was to send saleswomen dressed up in white hospital uniforms (known as mother-craft nurses) to households and clinics, giving out free samples of infant formula and baby bottles. Information pamphlets describing potential nutritional benefits from the formula, featuring pictures of both breastfeeding and bottle-feeding women. Advertisements were placed through many channels, including television, radio, magazines, posters in local hospitals, and loudspeaker vans. Nearly all of these advertisements depicted healthy white babies being fed by the formula. These mass media advertisements were able to effectively reach mothers in a wide variety of situations and socioeconomic status.”
says Visarut Kasemsupapun.
Well, the world needs chocolates and it seems that it doesn’t matter how and by whom the chocolate is produced. Might as well make a new tagline for the company – ‘Good Food for Some, Bad Life for Some’ instead of ‘Good Food, Good Life’.
3. Nestle and the Bottled Monster
But these aren’t the only scandals Nestle has been globally hit by, amongst the most famous is the water scandal. Nestle is the owner of nearly 70 of bottled water brands available in the market all over the world. In order to own water, it began to acquire lands and its leasing rights. The company has an annual profit income of an astounding $35 billions. The bottled water in its campaigns is portrayed to be a very lucrative offer, but it seems to be as controversial as its exposed past. The company has been under trial several times. It has been accused of pumping out excess of groundwater than the pledged amount hence drying up of a lot of places. It was also charged of excess extraction of water from the Crystal Springs recreational preserve in Florida. From the prescribed 3,10,000 gallons to 2.6 million, the company surely took a great leap. Nestle was also questioned for its purity and fitness in Pakistan and has been accused of pumping out water from the struggling rural areas for their bottled water without paying any compensation. Critics said that this burgeoning revolution of bottled water has made the economies less inclined towards to enhancement of the public water systems.
As reported on by Corporate Watch, Nestle and former CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe have a long history of disregarding public health and abusing the environment to take part in the profit of an astounding $35 billion in annual profit from water bottle sales alone. The report states:
“Nestlé production of mineral water involves the abuse of vulnerable water resources. In the Serra da Mantiqueira region of Brazil, home to the “circuit of waters” park whose groundwater has a high mineral content and medicinal properties, over-pumping has resulted in depletion and long-term damage.”
NESTLE’S REACTION- Peter Brabeck the chairman of Nestle said that water is a human right. But only 1.5% of the total water is for human usage. An average human needs 5 liters of water for daily hydration and 25 liters for minimum hygiene. He talks about the rest of the 98.5 % which he accounts should be used for the purpose of raw material and hence use water just like food and realize its market value.
Next thing the readers of this article might expect from Nestle is an appeal being put forward by Nestle to privatize air!
4. Where there is Nestle, there are no Forests
Nestle was also targeted for the usage of palm oil, the production of which led to the destruction of the rain forests in Indonesia and thus the exacerbation of global warming.
“Over the past 60 years Indonesia has lost an area of rain-forest three times the size of the UK. The United Nations Environment Program says palm oil production is the main cause of deforestation, which is occurring at a rate of about 2% per year. Indonesia is also the world’s third largest carbon emitter, largely as a result of deforestation and the burning of peat-lands.”
Reported Green-Peace.