Nestle Launches Sugar-Free Cerelac Variants in India

FMCG major Nestle India on Thursday said it will soon launch variants "with no refined sugar" of its infant food Cerelac.

The announcement is important as Nestle India, part of Swiss multinational Nestle SA, recently faced criticism for having added sugar in Cerelac.

In the company's earnings statement CMD Suresh Narayanan said: "We have achieved our ambition of introducing Celerac variants with no refined sugar."

This was initiated three years ago and culminated this year with the introduction of new Cerelac variants with no refined sugar, he added.

"The expanded Cerelac range in India will now consist of 21 variants, of which 14 variants will have no refined sugar," he said.

Of these 14 variants, 7 will be available by end of November 2024 and the rest will be introduced in the coming weeks, he added.

In April this year, Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organisation, and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), alleged that Nestle added sugar to its Cerelac products in India and other developing markets.

However in the developed market, it sells the product without sugar.

This was opposed by Nestle India, which said that there was no difference between products sold in India and that in other countries.

Narayanan further said that Cerelac, which is a cereal-based complementary food from Nestle, has entered its 50th year in India.

The first batch of Cerelac was manufactured in the company's flagship factory in Moga, Punjab on 15th September 1975.

"Today, hundreds of dedicated employees continue to manufacture quality nutrition products with the same tender care and passion at the Moga factory in Punjab and Samalkha factory in Haryana," he added.