Nutrition information and responsible marketing
We have an important role to play in guiding people to adopt a balanced diet.
We aim to use clear labeling and responsible marketing that promote healthy lifestyles to communicate transparently about our ingredients and the nutritional composition of our products.
We advertise our products according to strict guidelines, especially when it comes to how we promote breast-milk substitutes and how we communicate to children.
In addition, we provide the information people need to make conscious decisions and purchases, supporting them in making more sustainable choices that affect how they live and the health of the planet.
With this information, they can understand how their decisions can make a difference and help ensure our ability to feed future generations in nutritious ways.
Providing clear labelling
We provide comprehensive and transparent information about ingredients and nutritional composition on our packaging. To guide responsible consumption, we provide information and services to help people make healthier choices as part of a balanced diet.
Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) Labelling System
The Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labelling system provides guidance on the daily energy intake and key defined nutrients on the front of pack to enable consumers to evaluate a product’s composition in their daily diet. We place a very high priority on making consumers aware of their nutrition intake through prominent food labels on our products. Currently, we have GDA labels on all our product packs for children (4-12 years) and family products, and are in the process of implementing on-pack GDA information on all Nestlé products.
Portion guidance
How much people eat can be as important as what they eat. Launched in 2013, the Nestlé Portion Guidance initiative aims to help consumers understand what constitutes an appropriate portion of our products. The Nestlé Portion Guidance initiative is informed by a comprehensive process involving more than a decade of reviews and consultations about recommended portions/servings. Through this unique initiative, we encourage age-appropriate portion sizes on our products and packs, which helps equip consumers when they plan, buy, prepare and serve products.
To help people enjoy our products as part of a balanced diet, we’ve created The Backstory, our new on-pack communication system. It allows our brands to tell purpose-driven stories on the back of our packs while better organizing all required product information. Together, this ensures transparent nutritional information and provides portion guidance.
Recipes and guidance
Recently, we have developed a new way of expressing the nutritional quality of meals.
Called MyMenu IQ, it ranks the nutritional balance of meals on a scale of 0 to 100. The aim is to analyze recipes to help people improve the nutritional quality of their meals by suggesting different food combinations. This tool is available at www.maggi.in.
Marketing responsibly
We advertise our products according to strict guidelines, especially when it comes to how we promote breast-milk substitutes and how we communicate to children.
Nestlé has a global Nestlé Marketing Communication to Children Policy, which is implemented across all its regions of operation, including India.
Nestlé has further strengthen its industry-leading responsible marketing practices, as part of its efforts to help bring balanced diets within reach for people around the world. The company will voluntarily restrict its marketing to kids under the age of 16, while at the same time continuing its long-standing efforts to help families establish healthy eating and lifestyle habits.
The company’s new Marketing Communication to Children policy will take effect as of July 1, 2023. The policy will prohibit direct advertising of confectionery and ice-cream as well as water-based beverages with added sugars to children below 16 years of age. The policy reaffirms the ban on product marketing communication targeting children between 0 and 6 years of age, as per previous versions. This standard will be applied to TV and online platforms, including social media and gaming ones with greater than 25% of their audience under 16 years old. Additionally, Nestlé will not collect data of minors and only partner with social media influencers over the age of 18.
Nestlé India, is an India Pledge signatory, and the India Policy on Marketing Communications to Children guides our communication. As part of this policy, we have aligned with other FMCG companies to develop a Common Nutrient Criteria (CNC) for defining food and beverage product advertising to children under 12 years. The criteria has been developed on a category-based threshold approach that includes a set of ‘Nutrients to limit’ and ‘Components to encourage’. For certain categories, such as, chocolates, confectionary, butters, sugar free gums, carbonated and non-carbonated beverages no nutrition criteria was developed as the member companies took the decision not to advertise these categories to children.