Our approach to supporting balanced and sustainable diets

Food and good nutrition are fundamental to everyone’s health, well-being and quality of life, as well as their cultural identity.

Nestlé is the first company to publish the nutritional value of its entire global portfolio of foods and beverages using the Health Star Rating system. This is a nutrient profiling system used on front-of-pack nutrition labels in some countries and applied by the Access to Nutrition Initiative.

Nestlé is reporting separately on the proportion of its portfolio of specialized nutrition offerings. This consists of products sold by the Nutrition, Nestlé Health Science (NHS) and PetCare businesses. Most of these products are not included in the HSR rating system.

Making nutrition affordable

Product access and affordability are more important than ever. More people should be able to afford a healthy, nutritious diet. Currently, hunger, food insecurity, malnutrition and undernourishment affect three billion people worldwide. One way we are helping consumers access affordable, tasty and nutritious products is by developing regularly consumed products fortified with essential micronutrients lacking in people’s diets, such as iron, zinc, vitamin A and iodine.

Offering tasty and balanced products

We are continuously improving the nutritional profile of our products by adding more whole grains, proteins and fibers while reducing sugars, sodium and saturated fats – without compromising taste. The many plant-based innovations we have developed highlight our commitment to the well-being of the planet. Our expertise in proteins, nutrition and plant sciences enable us to bring tasty, nutritious and sustainable products to consumers around the world.

Reducing sugar and salt

Lowering the amount of sugar and sodium in our products is part of our effort to improve their overall nutritional profile.

In response to the publication of the World Health Organization’s Global Sodium Benchmarks, we have committed to reduce sodium in frequently consumed products by 2025. In addition, we are constantly looking towards new sugar-reduction technologies to improve more products.

Expanding our plant-based portfolio

Plant-based foods can have lower greenhouse gas emissions and support people to adopt healthy and sustainable diets. We offer a wide range of plant-based products and are continuing to develop our portfolio. Recent launches include soy-based Milo in Thailand, Nestlé Veggie plant-based yogurt with probiotics in Chile, Garden Gourmet Schnitzel in Europe, Garden Gourmet Voie Gras (an alternative to foie gras) in Spain and Switzerland, and the Gerber Plant-tastic range of organic foods and snacks for toddlers in Europe and the United States.

Providing transparency on our portfolio

HSR rates products on the total energy, saturated fat, sodium and sugar content, which can lower the score, as well as the fiber, protein, fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes content, which can increase the score.

Nestlé is reporting separately on the proportion of its portfolio of specialized nutrition offerings. This consists of products sold by the Nutrition, Nestlé Health Science (NHS) and PetCare businesses. Most of these products are not included in the HSR rating system.

In 2022, 37% of net sales excluding PetCare came from products with a HSR of 3.5 or above and 20% from products for meeting specialized nutrition needs.

Sharing knowledge in nutrition

We regularly share our research on nutrition with the scientific community.

Through Nestlé Health Science, we host medical conferences, presenting our nutritional research and new ways to treat or prevent medical conditions. And the Nestlé Nutrition Institute shares updates and generates discussions among healthcare professionals.

We have partnered with the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University to create the Global Nutrition and Health Atlas, which is a data goldmine for nutrition and health indicators.

Providing nutrition information and marketing responsibly

To guide responsible consumption, we provide information and services to help people make informed food choices as part of a balanced diet. These range from simple nutrition labeling to stringent responsible marketing practices, such as voluntarily restricting marketing to children under the age of 16, as well as nutrition education programs and services that promote healthy lifestyles, including initiatives like Nestlé for Healthier Kids.

We have also produced webinars on nutrition and sustainability for the Nestlé Worldchef Academy, which introduces young people to the culinary sector, and we have launched Nestlé Health Science Nutrition Unlocked podcasts.