Nestlé launches global initiative to help children lead healthier lives

On the United Nations International Day of Families, Nestlé announced its global “Nestlé for Healthier Kids” initiative. The program includes further development of healthier products and advice for families on nutrition and exercise. It aims at helping 50 million children lead healthier lives by 2030.     

Since its foundation, Nestlé has been committed to helping parents and caregivers provide the right nutrition to their children. With this new initiative, Nestlé is accelerating the transformation of its food and beverage portfolio worldwide. In 2017 alone, the company launched more than 1,000 new products to meet the nutritional needs of children. In the same year, it provided 174 billion servings of fortified foods and beverages in 66 countries where people lack essential micronutrients such as iron, iodine and vitamin A.    

Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, said: “Childhood is a time where life-long habits are formed. We want to help parents make healthier choices for their children. This is why we are accelerating our efforts to support families in raising healthier kids and we call on others to join us in this endeavor.”     

“We are doing this in the Middle East through various means, which include child nutrition research, and working closely with governments, academia, and other entities on developing and implementing school nutrition education programs, which have reached more than 60,000 children since their launch in 2010,” said Yves Manghardt, Nestlé Middle East Chairman and CEO. “We have also reached more than 700,000 people across the Middle East through our community programs. These include social media education, and on-ground activities such as the Adopt a Fruit/Adopt a Vegetable campaign. Another example is our TummyFish mobile App, encouraging children to choose water, which has been downloaded over 200,000 times.”

One of Nestlé Middle East’s key published commitments to society is to “Further provide nutritionally sound products designed for children,” which has translated since 2015 in the launch of three products per year specifically designed for kids.

Nestlé already reformulates around one third of its product portfolio every year. It will use its industry-leading innovation capability to further enhance foods and beverages for children with even more fruits, vegetables, fiber-rich grains and micronutrients. Nestlé will also continue to reduce sugars, salt and saturated fats.

Over the past decades, Nestlé has improved nutrition across its product range. Driven by its purpose to enhance quality of life and contribute to a healthier future, Nestlé has pledged to accelerate this work. By 2020 the company will:   

• Add at least 750 million portions (80g) of vegetables to its products;   

• Add at least 300 million portions (16g) of fiber-rich grains, pulses, nuts & seeds to its products;    

• Further reduce added sugars by 5%. Since 2000, the company has reduced sugars by over 34%;  

• Further reduce salt by 10%. Since 2005, the company has reduced salt by over 17,200 tons;  

• Complete the commitment taken in 2014, to reduce saturated fats by 10% in all relevant products that do not meet WHO recommendations.   

In the Middle East, key regional commitments include:

• Further leveraging nutrition insights and continue to launch three new nutritionally sound products every year to help fulfill healthy eating occasions during the day.

• Increasing from 8 billion to 8.7 billion the number of fortified food servings provided every year.

Nestlé will also enhance programs and online services designed to provide parents and caregivers with more nutritional knowledge, healthy recipes and practical tips. In 2017, over 300 partnerships worldwide have helped us reach more than 14 million children.