I.

INTRODUCTION

A. Company Profile

Name: Nestlé S.A

Address: Avenue Nestle 55, Vevey, 1800

Headquarters: Switzerland

B. Company Background

Nestlé's origin dates back to the 1860s, when two separate Swiss enterprises were founded that would
later form Nestlé. In the following decades, the two competing enterprises expanded their businesses
throughout Europe and the United States Nestle. Nestlé was formed in 1905 by the merger of the Anglo-
Swiss Milk Company, established in 1866 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée
Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri Nestlé (born Heinrich Nestle). Nestlé has a big range of products
across markets, this including coffee, baby food, medical food, bottled water, milkshake, breakfast
cereals, infant foods, performance and healthcare nutrition, seasonings, soups and sauces, frozen and
refrigerated foods, and pet food. Nestlé has 447 factories, operates in 194 countries, and have around
339,000 employ under Nestle. Nestle company strategy has few basic principles. Product of Nestle
produce through Innovation and transformation, at the same time balanced local production line and
activities. As the leading Food, Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company, Nestlé is the provider of the
best food for whatever time of day and for whatever time of your life. The main mission of Nestle
company is to bring the best product to people, no matter where they are, what they need for their life
and their slogan is Good Food, Good Life "

II. UNETHICAL PRACTICES

Nestle is the subject of the world's longest-running boycott due to its unethical marketing of infant milk
to developing-world moms. Other unethical business tactics have been criticized by the corporation,
including the mislabeled spring water and an alleged litigation over non-GMO ingredients. Misbranding
or mislabeling, as well as false or misleading advertising based on direct misinterpretation, were among
Nestlé Company's unethical acts.

III. RELEVANT FACTS

• Not only can the mislabeling of products be unethical, it can also be dangerous. In 2002, the
Administrative Department of Security ordered Nestlé Colombia to decommission 200 tons of powdered
milk. The milk powder had been produced between August 2001 and February 2002. However, the
packages had been relabeled with production dates of September 20, 2002, and October 6, 2002. The
United States has also been affected by Nestlé’s mislabeling. Nestlé is the global market leader for infant
milk products with a market share of close to a quarter. It has been dogged by the advertising issue
since a 1974 report called The Baby sparked a worldwide boycott.

• In 2017, Nestlé’s Poland Spring Water inspired a lawsuit seeking class-action status. It is based on the
contention that common groundwater is used in Nestlé’s product, marketed as containing “100 percent
natural spring water.”According to the plaintiffs, if the eight sites that Nestlé claims to use for Poland
Spring Water actually did contain springs, they would have to gush with such ferocity that the public
would be able to see [Link] lawsuit states, “Such a spring would be plainly visible—more like a
geyser than a spring—and undoubtedly well-known. Yet there is no photographic proof that even one
such spring—much less eight—exists on or near defendant’s sites in Maine.”In response, a Nestlé
spokesperson said, “It meets the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations defining spring water.
We remain highly confident in our legal position.”

• In 2018 Nestlé also faced class-action lawsuit regarding non-GMO labeling. The federal lawsuit filed in
Los Angeles alleged it sold products labeled as having “No GMO Ingredients” with Genetically Modified
Organisms. The company also is accused of designing a seal on its product packaging with the intention
to trick consumers into thinking that its products were certified by the non-profit Non-GMO Project, a
leading authority on the subject. The suit also alleged that Nestle sold dairy from cows fed GMO grain, a
violation of the non-profit’s standards for its Product Verification Program. The suit was settled in 2020
but no details of the terms were made public.

IV. EVIDENCES

•The Swiss multinational Nestlé has been accused of violating ethical marketing codes and manipulating
customers with misleading nutritional claims about its baby milk formulas. A new report by the Changing
Markets Foundation has found that Nestlé marketed its infant milk formulas as “closest to”, “inspired
by” and “following the example of” human breastmilk in several countries, despite a prohibition by the
UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO). The study, which analysed over 70 Nestlé baby milk products in
40 countries, also found that Nestlé often ignored its own nutritional advice in its advertising. In 1981,
the WHO adopted a strict code of advertising banning the promotion of baby milk products as being in
any way comparable to breastmilk. Nestle insists that it follows the code “ as implemented by national
governments”. But the new report finds that it touted products in the US such as Gerber Good Start
Gentle powder as “our closest to breastmilk”, and sold its Beba Optipro 1 powder in Switzerland as
“following the example of breastmilk”. Similar Nestlé products in Hong Kong and Spain were advertised
as being “inspired by human milk”, and having “an identical structure” to [Link] company did
not respond to specific questions about the new study but a Nestlé spokesperson told the Guardian it
supported WHO recommendations and believed that breastmilk was, wherever possible, “the ideal
source of nutrition for babies.” However, not all infants could be breastfed as recommended and “where
needed or chosen by parents, we offer high quality, innovative, science-based nutritional products for
mothers and infants from conception to two years of age,” the employee said. “We market these
products in a responsible way at all times, and the claims made on our products are based on sound
scientific evidence.”

Some academics, though, have highlighted the way that language used by corporates to promote infant
milk formulas can sometimes mislead consumers about this.

• "Not one drop” of Poland Spring water actually qualifies as spring water, the lawsuit says. It is common
groundwater that has been illegally mislabeled in order to “reap massive undue sales.” The result is that
Poland Spring water has become “the dominant brand in a market in which it does not even belong,”
the suit says. The 325-page lawsuit, filed in United States District Court in Connecticut, seeks an
unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages as well as a permanent injunction
preventing Nestlé Waters from continuing the alleged fraud. It also makes a number of allegations that
might surprise even the most jaded bottled water consumer. The suit contends that the famous Poland
Spring in Maine, which the company claims is a source of the water, effectively ran dry nearly 50 years
ago. It claims that the company built and maintained six “phony, man-made ‘springs’” to comply with
the law. It also alleges that one or more of the company’s wells are near a present or former human
waste dump, landfill or other similar [Link] another way, those famous Poland Spring images of water
on a verdant hillside are misleading and deceptive, the lawsuit said.

• In the lawsuit alleging that Nestlé USA is misleading shoppers with it's "No GMO ingredients" seal has
been no evidence if they are really violates the Non-GMO standards. According to what I have search
the suit was settled in 2020 but no details of the terms were made public. Therefore, there's no
verification if the Nestle Company is guilty about this.

V. IMPLICATIONS OR POSSIBLE EFFECTS

Both individuals and organizations suffer major consequences when they engage in unethical activity.
You could lose your job and reputation, businesses could lose their credibility, general morale and
productivity could suffer, and your actions could result in severe fines or financial loss. Because of the
potential consequences of boycotting, it may lead to the needless death and suffering of newborns all
around the world by aggressively marketing baby foods in violation of international marketing
regulations. The probable repercussions of mislabeled spring water on those who drink it include
diarrhoea and blood clotting if they are sensitive. And the consequences of a mislabeled seal on the
product can affect human health.

VI. CITATION

[Link]

[Link]
milk-formulas

[Link]