Marketing of formula
One of the most prominent controversies involving Nestlé concerns the promotion of the use of infant formula to mothers across the world, including developing countries – an issue that attracted significant attention in 1977 as a result of the Nestlé boycott, which is still ongoing.
Nestlé continues to draw criticism that it is in violation of a 1981 World Health Organization code that regulates the advertising of breast milk formulas. Groups such as the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and Save the Children claim that the promotion of infant formula over breastfeeding has led to health problems and deaths among infants in less economically developed countries.
Nestlé's policy states that breast-milk is the best food for infants, and that women who cannot or choose not to breast feed need an alternative to ensure that their babies are getting the nutrition they need.
Ethiopian debt
In 2002, Nestlé demanded that the nation of Ethiopia repay $6 million of debt to the company. Ethiopia was suffering a severe famine at the time. Nestlé backed down from its demand after more than 8,500 people complained via e-mail to the company about its treatment of the Ethiopian government. The company agreed to re-invest any money it received from Ethiopia back into the country.
Melamine in Chinese milk
Main article: 2008 Chinese milk scandal
In late September 2008, the Hong Kong government found melamine in a Chinese-made Nestlé milk product. The Dairy Farm milk was made by Nestlé's division in the Chinese coastal city Qingdao.
Nestlé affirmed that all its products were safe and were not made from milk adulterated with melamine. On 2 October 2008, the Taiwan Health ministry announced that six types of milk powders produced in China by Nestlé contained low-level traces of melamine, and were "removed from the shelves".
Greenwashing
A coalition of environmental groups filed a complaint against Nestlé to the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards after Nestlé took out full-page advertisements in October 2008 claiming that "Most water bottles avoid landfill sites and are recycled", "Nestlé Pure Life is a healthy, eco-friendly choice" and that "Bottled water is the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the world".
A spokesperson from one of the environmental groups stated: "For Nestlé to claim that its bottled water product is environmentally superior to any other consumer product in the world is not supportable".
In their 2008 Corporate Citizenship Report, Nestlé themselves stated that many of their bottles end up in the solid-waste stream, and that most of their bottles are not recycled.
Zimbabwe farms
In late September 2009, it was brought to light that Nestlé was buying milk from illegally seized farms currently operated by Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace Mugabe. Mugabe and his regime are currently subject to European Union sanctions.
Nestlé later stopped buying milk from the dairy farms in question.
Palm oil use
Rapid deforestation in Borneo and other regions, in order to harvest hardwood and make way for palm oil plantations, releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
In particular, where peat swamp forests are cleared, destroying the habitat for many threatened species of animals such as the orangutan, much public attention has been given to the environmental impact of palm oil and the role of multinationals such as Nestlé in this. There is ongoing concern by various NGOs including Greenpeace.
On its official Facebook page, the company met with "a deluge of criticism from consumers, after a large number of Facebook users posted negative comments about the company's business practises." Nestlé's attempt to engage with the issue met with criticism, including headlines stating: "Nestlé fails at social media", and "Nestlé Loses Face On Facebook".
Nestlé Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, in answer to a question from Greenpeace, told the Company’s Annual General Meeting in Lausanne on 15 April 2010 that in 2009 Nestlé used 320,000 tonnes of palm oil worldwide, comparing this with the 500,000 tonnes of palm oil used for biodiesel in Germany and Italy alone.
In May 2010, Nestlé said it was inviting The Forest Trust, a not-for-profit group, to audit its supply chain, and promised to cancel contracts with any firm found to be chopping down rainforests to produce the palm oil which it uses in KitKat, Aero and Quality Street. Greenpeace welcomed the agreement promising to monitor it closely.
E. coli
In June 2009, an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 was linked to Nestlé's refrigerated cookie dough originating in a plant in Danville, Virginia. In the USA, it caused sickness in at least 69 people in 29 states, half of whom required hospitalization. Following the outbreak, Nestlé voluntarily recalled 30,000 cases of the cookie dough. How the dough became contaminated is unclear, because E. coli is not known to live in any of its constituent ingredients.
Child labour
The 2010 documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate alleges that Nestlé purchases cocoa beans from Ivory Coast plantations that use child slave labour. The children are usually 12 to 15 years old, and some are trafficked from nearby countries.
The first allegations that child slavery is used in cocoa production appeared in 1998. In late 2000 a BBC documentary reported the use of enslaved children in the production of cocoa in West Africa.
Other media followed by reporting widespread child slavery and child trafficking in the production of cocoa.
In September 2001, Bradley Alford, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé USA, signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol (commonly called the Cocoa Protocol), an international agreement aimed at ending child labour in the production of cocoa.
In 2005, after the cocoa industry had not met the Harkin-Engel Protocol deadline for certifying the worst forms of child labor (according to the International Labor Organization's Convention 182) had been eliminated from cocoa production, the International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit in 2005 under the Alien Tort Claims Act against Nestle ant others on behalf of three Malian children. The suit alleged the children were trafficked to the Ivory Coast, forced into slavery, and experienced frequent beatings on a cocoa plantation.
In September 2010, the US District Court for the Central District of California determined corporations cannot be held liable for violations of international law and dismissed the suit. The case was appealed to the US Court of Appeals.
A 2009 joint police operation conducted by INTERPOL and Ivorian law enforcement officers resulted in the rescue of 54 children and the arrest of eight people involved in the illegal recruitment of children.
Water, Bottled Life
A 2012 documentary with the title "Bottled Life" critizises Nestlés practices concerning its water business. Nestlé originally set it aside with "The wrong film at the wrong time". According to the documentary, buying a truckload of water in the United States costs Nestlé 10 USD, which is then sold for USD 50,000
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