Media

Nestlé New Zealand has announced it will donate a minimum of $500,000 in products over the next two months to New Zealanders who need it most.

Nestlé today announced that it will invest up to CHF 2 billion to lead the shift from virgin plastics to food-grade recycled plastics and to accelerate the development of innovative sustainable packaging solutions.
Building on its 2018 commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, Nestlé will reduce its use of virgin plastics by one third in the same period whilst working with others to advance the circular economy and endeavor to clean up plastic waste from oceans, lakes and rivers.

Food quality and safety are paramount, and packaging plays a major role in assuring this. Most plastics are difficult to recycle for food packaging, leading to a limited supply of food-grade recycled plastics. To create a market, 

Nestlé is therefore committed to sourcing up to 2 million metric tons of food-grade recycled plastics and allocating more than CHF 1.5 billion to pay a premium for these materials between now and 2025. Nestlé will seek operational efficiencies to keep this initiative earnings neutral.

Schools across New Zealand have flocked to sign up to a new programme that is creating much-needed waves in the push to rid our oceans of rubbish. 

The programme, created by Nestlé in partnership with the inspirational Kiwi non-profit organisation Sea Cleaners, gives schools across New Zealand the tools and know-how to tackle the rubbish problem plaguing our precious waterways, and help them to understand the impact of not putting litter where it belongs. 

Motivating a new generation of young Kiwis into conservation action, Nestlé and Sea Cleaners, in conjunction with School Kit, have worked together to develop the programme which offers a variety of resources to help schools. Primarily it provides information to conduct local clean-ups, and teaches students how to categorise and analyse rubbish collected, examining aspects such as volume of recyclable waste found and local waterways the rubbish may have ended up in. 

To get kids excited about nutrition and healthy eating, students across New Zealand are being given the chance to swap the classroom for the kitchen. 

Nestlé and Safe Kids in Daily Supervision (sKids) have collaborated to deliver a free in-school cooking and nutrition programme for primary schools, aiming to educate and empower kids with the skills and confidence to cook at home.  

The four-week programme, called Feed Your Whanau, will educate kids on healthy eating habits and cooking skills in a fun environment. At the end of the programme, students get a take home kit which includes ingredients so that they can put their learning into action and serve up a meal for their family.  

Written for teachers, and aligned to the New Zealand school curriculum, Feed Your Whanau covers four fun and engaging topics: 
1.    Introduction to a healthy meal, including food groups and daily servings 
2.    How to grow and care for produce at home
3.    The importance of eating a ‘rainbow’ diet for good nutrition 
4.    Hygiene and kitchen safety; and, at-home cooking with family

Nestlé today announced the launch of a new range of Starbucks coffee capsules. These are the first Starbucks coffee products developed using Nespresso proprietary coffee and system technology and consist of six signature flavours that consumers can enjoy in the comfort of their own home.

This launch came after the two companies, Nestlé and Starbucks, joined forces to create a global coffee alliance in August last year. 
 
With the launch of the new Starbucks by Nespresso range, for the first time Kiwi coffee lovers will create the same Starbucks coffee they love from a café in their home. They will be able to access those premium and exciting coffee products from their local supermarket.  

Nestlé New Zealand and Safe Kids in Daily Supervision (sKids) have been recognised for their joint efforts to get more Kiwi kids engaged in healthy cooking, with the partnership awarded the 2019 TVNZ Marketing Excellence Award for Best Collaboration.

Nestlé and sKids, the country’s largest private out of school supervised care provider at schools, have been working to share their expertise, networks and resources to extend nutrition education across the country through Nestlé for Healthier Kids FoodStorm modules. 

The FoodStorm modules provide a hands-on learning opportunity to students who may not have had the chance to cook before, allowing them to see just how easy it is to prepare healthy, affordable and delicious food. 

Nestle’s support boosted the number of sKids centres delivering FoodStorm modules by 40 per cent, allowing more than 65 sKids sites to deliver the programme.

Nestlé today announced its ambition to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It embraces the most ambitious aim of the Paris Agreement, to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Ahead of the U.N. Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit this month, Nestlé will sign the ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C’ pledge.

With this announcement Nestlé is accelerating its climate change efforts. This builds on a decade of work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Over the past four years, Nestlé has aligned its objectives with science-based targets to keep the temperature increase below 2°C. The company is determined to play a leading role in tackling climate change. Over the next two years, it will lay out a time-bound plan including interim targets consistent with the 1.5°C path. Nestlé will review its progress annually to ensure it is on track.

Nestlé today officially inaugurated the Institute of Packaging Sciences, the first-of-its-kind in the food industry. The new Institute enables Nestlé to accelerate its efforts to bring functional, safe and environmentally friendly packaging solutions to the market and to address the global challenge of plastic packaging waste.

Speaking at the inauguration, Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, said, "Our vision is a world in which none of our packaging ends up in landfill or as litter. To achieve this we introduce reusable packaging solutions and pioneer environmentally friendly packaging materials. Furthermore, we support the development of local recycling infrastructure and deposit schemes to help shape a waste-free world. The Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences enables us to create a strong pipeline of sustainable packaging solutions for Nestlé products across businesses and markets."

The world's only new chocolate variety to be discovered in 80 years, Ruby, will finally be available to chocolate lovers across New Zealand with the launch of the limited edition KitKat Ruby. Ruby chocolate is the fourth type of chocolate, after milk, dark and white, and is like nothing else on supermarket shelves.

The all new KitKat Ruby features a distinctive, all-natural pink hue, an intense berry flavour, and a luscious smooth texture, combined with the iconic crisp KitKat wafer fingers. The unique pink colour comes from an innovative production process, which unlocks the distinctive flavour and colour tone which is naturally present in the Ruby cocoa bean.

Iconic Milo is going back to its roots in 2019 with Nestlé reverting to the drink’s classic taste Kiwis have known and loved for more than 80 years.

This means Milo will once again have the delicious choc malt taste that has been a family favourite in Kiwi homes for generations It’s a move that’s sure to conjure up fond memories of cold cups of Milo after school or warm, comforting drinks after winter sports for many.

Nestlé Business Manager Anna Stewart said the company put the Milo formulation through extensive development and taste testing to create the best possible taste.

Read more...

Santa’s Elves have been busy preparing a special delivery for all the cats and dogs that will be spending Christmas Day at SPCA centres across New Zealand. All 40 SPCA centres will receive gift packs from Purina this week full of pet treats, extra snuggly beds, new food bowls and toys to chew, chase or cuddle for the animals to enjoy.

Volunteers who help care for pets during the holiday period, aren’t forgotten either with human treats also included in this special delivery.

Nestlé has been named Fortune magazine’s most admired food company in the world for the tenth year in a row.

Fortune magazine’s 2015 survey of the World’s Most Admired Companies reflects the opinions of more than 4,000 executives, directors and analysts who rate companies on attributes like quality of products, innovation, social responsibility, people management and financial soundness.

Read more about Fortune’s list

This and other examples come together in our report ‘Nestlé in society: Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2016’. It details our 42 Nestlé in society commitments a>

On Thursday 16 February 2017 we announce our 2016 full-year results.

Details of the day:

Press release
English press release (pdf 250Kb)

Nestlé employees have dedicated their volunteer days to removing litter from a section of the Puhinui Stream which runs behind the Nestlé factory in Manukau.

More than 130 Nestlé employees from the Auckland area donned gloves and joined the Sea Cleaners team to gather rubbish from the local waterway which is washed down from upstream or is collected along the banks as it makes its way to Manukau Harbour.

Sea Cleaners CEO Hayden Smith said that the dumping of rubbish in and near the stream and other local waterways was an ongoing issue, but one they were seeking to address through community involvement and education.

Nestlé today announced that 77% of its agricultural commodities are verified as deforestation-free. This is a key milestone in the company’s efforts to achieve its zero-deforestation commitment.

In 2010, Nestlé made a no deforestation commitment to ensure that none of its products globally would be associated with deforestation by 2020. Over the years, the company has worked with partners like Airbus and Earthworm Foundation, and its suppliers to identify areas at risk of deforestation. The company is using a combination of tools, including certification, supply chain mapping, on-the-ground verification and satellite imagery from the Starling system to achieve this goal.

Starling is the result of a fruitful collaboration between Airbus, Earthworm Foundation and Nestlé. Nestlé is now using the system to monitor its entire palm oil supply chain. Pilots in pulp and paper are also now underway and the company plans to extend it to soya later in 2019. Starling’s cutting-edge technology helps Nestlé understand better where deforestation occurs, what drives it and who is involved. The company uses this information to verify compliance, challenge its suppliers and prioritize transformative actions.

We are increasing the price of a number of our Nestlé and Uncle Tobys cereals. As we appreciate that no one likes a price rise, we’d like to explain why we’ve done this.

Our factory is based in the small farming community of Wahgunyah in Victoria, Australia.  In the last year, we’ve seen neighbouring farms affected by first drought, and then frosts, which has had an impact not just on those farmers, but the whole community. As we prioritise buying oats from farms near our factory,  this has made it harder for us to source the oats and grains we need, particularly oats that meet the higher specifications of the superior Uncle Tobys oat, and we’ve had to look further afield to find enough. Right around Australia, the cost of grains has risen significantly.

Encouraging learning about healthy living, outside the classroom with Nestlé

Learning, activity and eating are part of most school days. Today, all 500 Manurewa West Primary School pupils will get to do these activities a little differently, as they celebrate Healthy Active Kids Day. 

As an extension of the Nestlé for Healthier Kids programme, students will participate in three workshops where they’ll learn to prepare a healthy snack, play outdoor team-building games, and enjoy a creative dance and music session.

The workshops will be led by coaches from AUT Millennium, where many of New Zealand’s top athletes train, a Nestlé nutritionist and members of the local Nestlé team.

The Nestlé Don’t Waste Your Waste study, developed in partnership with not-for-profit environmental organisation Planet Ark, has been released today and paints a concerning picture of our nation’s overly optimistic opinion of our recycling habits.

Released on Global Recycling Day, the study highlights the need for further investment in education on recycling to help New Zealanders minimise what we send to landfill and reduce recycling contamination. On the positive side the study revealed that an overwhelming majority of New Zealanders (97 per cent) are eager to recycle while four out of five also want to reduce their waste more generally. Additionally, 76 per cent are worried about the impact waste has on the planet and the legacy they leave the next generation. However, 94 per cent of people still put one or more non-recyclable items in their recycling bin, highlighting the confusion preventing us from being better recyclers.

Nestlé today laid out an action plan (pdf, 800Kb) to help end deforestation and restore forests in its cocoa supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. This plan is part of the company’s commitment to support the Cocoa & Forests Initiative, a new public-private partnership bringing together the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and the cocoa and chocolate industry. Nestlé today also disclosed its cocoa suppliers to increase transparency.

Nestlé is fully committed to achieving deforestation-free commodities by 2020. The company is strengthening transparency and traceability in its supply chain and is already using a combination of tools, including certification, supply chain mapping and satellite imagery. The Nestlé Cocoa & Forests Action Plan, alongside the disclosure of Nestlé’s cocoa suppliers in Ghana (pdf, 500Kb) and Côte d'Ivoire (pdf, 500Kb), will accelerate the company’s journey to stop deforestation.

Alexander von Maillot, Head of Confectionery Strategic Business Unit, Nestlé S.A., said: "Cocoa grown illegally in protected areas has no place in our supply chain. We are working to stop deforestation and the destruction of other natural habitats from our agricultural commodity supply chains, including cocoa. Addressing the issue of deforestation in cocoa is complex and is a shared responsibility. We welcome the Cocoa & Forests Initiative, which brings together all the relevant stakeholders and are determined to contribute to a sustainable cocoa sector where the protection of the environment is aligned with the social and economic development of cocoa farmers and producing countries."

Nestlé today laid out an action plan to increase the number of women in senior executive positions globally. This underscores Nestlé’s commitment to providing equal opportunities for everyone at the company.

Nestlé has made progress in recent years increasing the number of women in managerial positions. Today, 43% of these roles are held by women. With its Gender Balance Acceleration Plan, Nestlé will now put further emphasis on increasing the proportion of women in the group’s top 200 senior executive positions from around 20% currently to 30% by 2022. This is another step in Nestlé’s journey towards gender parity.

Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, said: “It is simply the right thing to do. We believe that a more diverse workforce with more women at the top will reinforce our inclusive culture and make Nestlé an even better company. We are setting measurable goals to hold ourselves accountable. We know that improving gender balance will lead to better decisions, stronger innovation and higher employee satisfaction.”

Nestlé reports full-year results for 2018

PDF press releases:

• English (pdf, 500 Kb)
• Français (pdf, 500 Kb)
• Deutsch (pdf, 500 Kb)

Nestlé proposes Dick Boer and Dinesh Paliwal as new independent members of the Board of Directors

PDF press releases:

• English (pdf, 150 Kb)
• Français (pdf, 150 Kb)
• Deutsch (pdf, 150 Kb)

Nestlé today laid out its broader vision to achieve a waste-free future and announced a series of specific actions towards meeting its April 2018 commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, with a particular focus on avoiding plastic-waste.

Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said, "Our broader vision and action plan outline our commitment and specific approach to addressing the plastics packaging waste issue.

While we are committed to pursuing recycling options where feasible, we know that 100% recyclability is not enough to successfully tackle the plastics waste crisis. We need to push the boundaries and do more. We are determined to look at every option to solve this complex challenge and embrace multiple solutions that can have an impact now. We believe in the value of recyclable and compostable paper-based materials and biodegradable polymers, in particular where recycling infrastructure does not exist.

Nestlé today announced the creation of the Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences, dedicated to the discovery and development of functional, safe and environmentally friendly packaging solutions. This is a step further to achieve the Company’s commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.

Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said, "We want to be a leader in developing the most sustainable packaging solutions for our food and beverage products. To achieve this, we are enhancing our research capabilities to develop new packaging materials and solutions. Through this, we hope to address the growing packaging waste problem, in particular plastics. We aim to minimize our impact on the natural environment while safely delivering to our consumers healthier and tastier products."

The Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences, which is part of Nestlé’s global research organization, will be located in Lausanne, Switzerland. It will employ around 50 people and include a state-of-the-art laboratory complex as well as facilities for rapid prototyping.

In close collaboration with the Company’s global R&D network, academic partners, suppliers and start-ups, the institute will evaluate the safety and functionality of various sustainable packaging materials. Research focus areas will include recyclable, biodegradable or compostable polymers, functional paper, as well as new packaging concepts and technologies to increase the recyclability of plastic packaging. The new solutions will be tested in various product categories, before they are rolled out across Nestlé’s global portfolio.

A decade long partnership helping feed struggling New Zealanders is being celebrated.

At a ceremony in Auckland, The Salvation Army thanked Nestlé New Zealand for 10 years of support for Army foodbanks through bulk donations of food products in Christchurch and Auckland, and for its commitment to supporting the young people that the Salvation Army works with.

Beyond helping put food on the table Nestlé has also provided cooking and nutrition courses to young people The Salvation Army is supporting. The company has run Nestlé Cook for Life classes for students on Salvation Army Education and Employment courses, and from next year it will be providing the classes to at-risk teenagers on the Army’s Aspire Youth Development programme - helping them build lifelong skills in cooking and healthy eating. Nestlé also helped raise funds for Aspire through its Maggi Food Truck which travelled the country over the winter period providing Maggi meals at key community events. Rather than charge for the meals, Maggi Food Truck customers were invited to make a donation to Aspire.

Nestlé today joined forces with other businesses and governments in signing The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment ('Global Commitment') at the Our Ocean Conference in Bali, Indonesia.

The Global Commitment is an initiative of The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment. It aims to rethink the future of plastics by applying the principles of circular economy, in which plastics never become waste. The Global Commitment represents a powerful framework to work collectively on solutions that address the root causes of plastics waste and pollution.

Kids at Don Buck Primary School went up against Olympic Athlete Rob Waddell in a cooking face-off and battled it out to produce the best selfie food art to celebrate the launch of a new partnership between Nestlé Healthy Active Kids, and sKids, the largest private provider of out of school care in New Zealand, and their FoodStorm cooking programme.

sKids at Don Buck Primary School in West Auckland invited Food Magazine Editor, Sophie Gray, Heart Foundation National Nutrition Advisor, Lily Henderson, Nestlé NZ CEO, Christian Abboud and sKids CEO, Dawn Englebrecht to help them compete against Rob in a cooking ‘face-off’ held on Tuesday 6 November.

Competitors were challenged to create the ‘Selfie Wrap’ recipe and battled it out with the assistance of the sKids sous chef team to create the best selfie made out of vegetables. Rob Waddell was judged to be winner of the best ‘Selfie Wrap’ and now has $1000 to donate to the charity of his choice.

The ‘Selfie Wrap’ is one of ten new recipes that have been developed for the “Collector’s Edition” for the new Nestlé Healthy Active Kids FoodStorm module which will help see more than 1000 kids across New Zealand enjoy cooking classes with a difference during after-school care.

Nestlé today announced its accelerated plan towards reaching the company’s 2020 No Deforestation commitment by becoming the first global food company to implement Starling, a satellite-based service, to monitor 100% of its global palm oil supply chains. Starling was developed by Airbus and The Forest Trust (TFT) as a global verification system evidencing that no deforestation is taking place throughout the supply chain.

Deforestation is a serious and complex issue and addressing it requires the entire industry working together towards greater transparency, inclusiveness, direct supply chain engagement and capacity building throughout the supply chain. 

“Nestlé has always been committed to source the raw materials we need to make our products in a responsible manner. In 2010, we made a No Deforestation commitment stating that all our products globally will not be associated with deforestation by 2020,” said Magdi Batato, Executive Vice President, Head of Operations, Nestlé S.A.

By 2017, 63% of Nestlé global supply chain was deforestation-free.

Nestlé confirms proposal to exit from sugar confectionery in New Zealand

• Nestlé confirms proposed sale of local kiwi confectionery brands to RJ’s in New Zealand
• Sale to result in up to 55 redundancies from Wiri factory
• RJ’s assisting to identify opportunities for redundant workers

Nestlé New Zealand confirmed today it will proceed with the sale of local kiwi confectionery brands to RJ’s.

Completion of the sale is expected to occur on 31 August, with RJ’s in New Zealand purchasing the Mackintosh’s, Heards, Oddfellows, Black Knight and Fabulicious Red Licorice brands from Nestlé. Where possible, RJ’s intends to continue the manufacture of these brands in New Zealand, with plans to be finalised in the coming weeks. Nestlé will also sell the Life Savers brand to Darrell Lea in Australia.

On Thursday 26 July 2018 we announce our 2018 half-year results.

Details of the day:

Press release
English press release (pdf 250Kb)

Second-year dietetics student Katrina Shepherd has been awarded a $3000 postgraduate scholarship from Nestlé.

The School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition Postgraduate Scholarship, awarded by Nestlé, provides monetary support for a dietetics student enrolled in their second year of studying the Master of Science (Nutrition and Dietetics) programme. This is the second year the scholarship has been awarded.

Finalists were asked to share how they have grown since starting the Dietetic programme and how this has enabled them to bring the Nestlé purpose “enhancing quality of life and contributing to a healthier future for all New Zealanders” to life in their community over the past year.

Read more...

• Conditionally agrees to sell local kiwi confectionery brands to Quadrant Private Equity, owners of RJ’s and Darrell Lea confectionery brands; plan to retain New Zealand manufacturing of iconic kiwi brands
• Consultation with employees to reduce manufacturing in Wiri factory commences
• Proposal will result in some redundancies at Nestlé’s Wiri factory. 

Following a review of Nestlé’s confectionery business in Australia and New Zealand, Nestlé is looking to focus on its major chocolate, baking and medicated lozenge brands in New Zealand.

Nestlé New Zealand has reached a conditional agreement to sell kiwi confectionery brands Mackintosh’s, Heards, Black Knight and Fabulicious Red Licorice to Quadrant Private Equity, who intend to continue to manufacture these local brands in New Zealand. Under the proposal Nestlé will also sell other Oceania brands Life Savers and Oddfellows to Quadrant.

[email protected]é, Nestlé’s open innovation platform, is celebrating two years of innovative solutions to business challenges.

Over the last two years the platform has launched 12 projects, with over 400 applications from start-ups. [email protected]é is connecting on a global scale as it continues to tackle meaningful and challenging projects across sustainability, nutrition, health and wellness.

For example, the 'Nespresso Sustainability Challenge' created an online platform so consumers can experience and participate in Nespresso’s global sustainability efforts and their positive impact on social and environmental sustainability.

Nestlé New Zealand today reaffirmed its commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 by pledging its support for the New Zealand Plastic Packaging Declaration.

The declaration has been signed by a range of companies in New Zealand, demonstrating strong support on the UN’s World Environment Day, with the 2018 theme of ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’.

Nestlé New Zealand CEO Christian Abboud said, “Plastic waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues the world is facing today – tackling it requires a collective approach.

Nestlé today announced the global Nestlé for Healthier Kids initiative with the goal of helping 50 million children lead healthier lives by 2030.

The initiative includes the further development of healthier products and guidance for families on nutrition and exercise, with Nestlé accelerating the transformation of its food and beverage products worldwide. In 2017 alone, the company launched more than 1,000 new products globally to meet the nutritional needs of children.

Nestlé Oceania Market Head Sandra Martinez said: “Childhood is a time where life-long habits are formed. We want to help parents make healthier choices for their children. We will achieve this by building and sharing greater nutrition knowledge, supporting physical activity programs, and offering tastier and healthier choices.

Nestlé today announced its ambition to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or re-usable by 2025. Its vision is that none of its packaging, including plastics, ends up in landfill or as litter. Nestlé believes that there is an urgent need to minimise the impact of packaging on the environment.

Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said, “Plastic waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues the world is facing today. Tackling it requires a collective approach. We are committed to finding improved solutions to reduce, re-use and recycle. Our ambition is to achieve 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025.”

In Australia and New Zealand, Nestlé has started implementing new labelling to help consumers recycle their packaging correctly, with new labels coming onto Allen’s lollies this year.

The new chocolate bar, Milkybar Wowsomes, to be launched in the UK and Ireland, uses the new technology to achieve a sugar reduction of 30% versus comparable bars.

The sugar reduction, which was first announced in November 2016, is achieved using only natural ingredients and with no additional sweeteners. The bar has milk as the number one ingredient, contains crispy oats, and is a good source of fibre.

Almost one in three New Zealand children have inadequate Vitamin D intake . Long committed to providing wholesome energy, Milo Cereal has now added vitamin D to its cereal range so kids can get more out of their breakfast with every mouthful! 

 
Vitamin D is essential for kids’ normal growth and development. It helps calcium to be absorbed, helping to build strong bones in growing kids. A single 30g serve of Milo Cereal now provides 25% of the Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) of Vitamin D.

New Zealand Football is pleased to announce Milo as a new partner for the Small Whites campaign, helping to introduce young New Zealanders to football.

As part of supporting teamwork, the partnership will include a ‘Milo Most Committed Player of the Month’ program, providing team-level recognition for children in football teams across the country.

One committed young New Zealand footballer will have the opportunity to join children from around the world to train with FC Barcelona coaches in Barcelona later this year.

Nestlé has announced today a new ambition for its global youth initiative: Nestlé needs YOUth. By 2030, Nestlé will help 10 million young people around the world have access to economic opportunities.

The global initiative brings together all of the efforts to support young people around the world that Nestlé undertakes on its own and with others, including the Alliance for YOUth. 
In addition to employability, the initiative now also focuses on the next generation of farmers and entrepreneurs across Nestlé’s value chain. It also seeks to encourage innovation, including through a challenge on the [email protected]é open innovation platform.

Nestlé NZ has a long history of collaboration with the Massey University Dietetics department, working together to create shared value for both organisations and the local communities in which they operate.

In South Auckland, local communities have struggled for generations with problems such as obesity, over-consumption of takeaway food and lack of food knowledge and cooking skills. In 2012, we launched Nestlé Cook for Life to help educate the local community to combat this problem and inspire them to lead healthier, more active lives.

This year Nestlé has opened its doors to a group of Year 2 Massey University Dietetics students for placement as part of their Public Health and Community Nutrition Block. A first for Nestlé Cook for Life, the involvement of Massey University dietetics students in the delivery of the programme helped to enable over 500 Year 10 students at Manurewa High School, one of the largest Decile 1 schools in New Zealand, to participate in the educational programme over the month of June.

Reade more...

Chocolate lovers rejoice – Nestlé has released a new Inspired by KITKAT CHOCOLATORY range in New Zealand.

The bespoke creations are ‘inspired by’ the popular custom creations made at the bricks and mortar KITKAT CHOCOLATORY boutique in Melbourne, where dessert devotees can create their own custom KITKAT, made by a team of specialist chocolatiers.

A recent survey of Kiwi parents found over half of New Zealand children aren’t getting enough exercise to meet the recommended daily guidelines of at least 60 minutes per day (1).

The survey, commissioned by MILO, revealed that half of parents (56 per cent) struggle to motivate their kids to get active, while nearly half have difficulty monitoring their child’s nutritional intake.

To help make it easier for parents, Nestlé has launched the MILO Champions Squad – a new activity tracker, with a downloadable app, specifically designed to help kids have fun and be active.

• More than half of Kiwi children are getting less than the daily recommended amount of exercise
• Majority of parents struggle to motivate kids to be active 
• Increasing battle to monitor kids’ activity and diet 
• Parents worry this could lead to development of bad habits, health problems and low self esteem

Champion Netballer, Maria Tutaia, has been working with MILO to develop exclusive sporting tips for kids using the interactive app.

“The app is a great way for the next generation of Kiwi kids to get active, while supporting parents as they teach their children how to love exercise, and encourage healthy eating,” Ms Tutaia said.

The MILO Champions Band syncs to a dedicated mobile app which helps to keep track of physical exercise in an engaging and positive way. Children can use the MILO Champions Band app to create their own interactive avatar, track their activity, learn new skills across a variety of sports from international athletes, and compete in physical activity challenges with their friends.

There are plenty of tips on how to reduce wastewater at home. Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth. Put a block in your toilet cistern. Take a shorter shower. Those things certainly help, but World Water Day is about thinking big as well as thinking small. 

So how about this: one factory in Mexico decided to take more drastic action. It turned off the taps completely and its water consumption has gone from 1.6 million litres a day to zero. How’s that for an answer to the ‘why waste water?’ question?

Milking the benefits
The Nestlé dairy factory has become the company’s first ‘zero water’ manufacturing site in the world. Located in the central, water-stressed state of Jalisco, it now uses only recycled water from its dairy operations.
Put simply, instead of drawing water from the ground or mains, the factory gets all the water it needs from the milk it processes. 
The facility takes fresh cow’s milk, normally around 88% water, and heats it at low pressure to remove some of its water content.
 

The resulting steam is then condensed and treated and used to clean the evaporating machines themselves.
Once the machines have been flushed out, the water is then collected once more, purified and recycled a second time. No outside water is used at all.  Water supplies have come under severe strain in Mexico due to population growth. So, saving groundwater is vitally important for the wellbeing of local populations.
"In Mexico, and around the world, water is a vital and fragile resource,” says Nestlé’s Paul Bulcke. “Due to the relevance of water in the production of food and its role in the preservation of life, Nestlé worldwide will continue to pursue initiatives that contribute to the maintenance and access to natural resources."

Three ways to save 
The world’s biggest food company uses a 3-phase approach to reduce water in its factories.
First, engineers look for ways to optimise the existing manufacturing processes. Second, they look for opportunities to reuse the water already being used. In the third phase, they come up with new ways of extracting water from raw materials and recycling it. 
The dairy factory in Mexico is a great example of this ‘third-phase’ innovation.
The triple-pronged approach has been used in more than 80 factories worldwide, enabling reductions in water usage of 10%-30%.
The Mexican factory has been such a success that work is already underway to transform Nestlé’s milk factory in the Californian city of Modesto to ‘zero water’. 
The CHF 7 million project should save nearly 286 million litres per year when it is completed in 2018.

A precious resource
The global research organisation World Resources Institute is helping Nestlé save water by ensuring water management is environmentally, socially, and economically beneficial.
Innovation and careful management has helped Nestlé cut water consumption by a third over the past 10 years. But the job is never done. The company is committed to staying at the forefront of efforts to increase efficiency and reduce all types of waste wherever possible.
 
The United Nation’s sixth Sustainable Development Goal is to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase water recycling and safe reuse. Industry is essential to meeting that target. 
Projects like the ‘zero water’ factory show what is possible and highlight the value of constantly asking ‘why waste water?’

Nestlé New Zealand today announced it will continue to reduce sodium in a number of Maggi products by up to 15% over the next three years to work towards World Health Organization targets. Nestlé said it would fast track reductions to help people limit sodium intake to no more than 2g per day, the maximum level recommended by WHO. 

The company has already made significant progress, removing more than 38,312kg of sodium – or 95,781kg of table salt – from Maggi 2 Minute Noodles sold in New Zealand and Australia since 2005.
Maggi Nutritionist Vanessa Furlong, said it was timely to talk about the company’s sodium reduction strategy during World Salt Awareness Week. “We have to take our consumers on a journey with us and make gradual changes over time to ensure we balance their taste expectations with the need to reduce sodium,” she said.
As part of a long term strategy to make Maggi healthier, sodium in some of the 2 Minute Noodle varieties has already decreased by as much as 55 per cent and options such as wholegrain and 99% fat free noodles have been introduced.“While we have already made significant reductions to the sodium in our products, we are now in a process of re-evaluating our entire portfolio to remove even more sodium,” Ms Furlong said.  
Last year Maggi also made significant changes to its dry Recipe Bases range, removing ingredients unfamiliar to consumers, such as maltodextrin and emulsifiers, and adding in everyday ingredients that included vegetables, herbs and spices.

This follows on from the recent commissioning of a new facility within Nestlé’s factory in Auckland to extend the availability of Maggi gluten free products in New Zealand and Australia.

Nestlé today unveiled a new multi-million-dollar facility which will both expand the availability of gluten free products in New Zealand, and create new export opportunities for Maggi and Docello food service brands.

The new facility, at Nestlé’s Cambria Park factory in South Auckland, has been created in response to surging demand for gluten free products both in New Zealand and the region.

The site’s annual exports of over $60m are expected to increase as the expanded capacity, backed by robust quality assurance systems give confidence in a true gluten free offer, unlocking new potential.

Nestlé New Zealand CEO Veronique Cremades said the investment goes beyond the factory alone. “Our international research and development program now allow us to create high quality gluten free products that taste great and maintain texture. Gluten free no longer means compromise,” Ms Cremades said, “Careful product development means a wide range of products will be made gluten free,including a selection of Maggi products sold in supermarkets for at-home use, and a wide range of Maggi flavour boosters, recipe bases, gravies, sauces, soups and Nestlé Docello dessert mixtures used in professional food service.”

Ms Cremades said that it is just one of many ways Nestlé is responding to consumers’ health needs. For the one in 70 New Zealanders diagnosed with coeliac disease, a strict lifelong gluten-free diet is essential. Nestlé Professional Country Manager Eleni Gonzalez said that gluten free products are increasingly sought after in the hospitality sector.

“Given the need for some people to eliminate particular foods or ingredients, together with an increase in other dietary preferences, food service and dining out of home has become more complex. The chefs who are our customers tell us that a wider gluten free range will remove the need for special menu items, saving money and time,” Ms Gonzalez said. “While we have been increasing our gluten free range for some years, capacity constraints have limited the range.This new facility gives us significant additional capacity, with room to grow”.

Nestlé’s Cambria Park site has seen 55 years of innovation since it opened in 1962. Now the regional hub for Maggi, the factory produces Maggi and Nestlé Docello culinary products for home and food service, as well as a number of confectionery products.

Nestlé Cook for Life’s collaboration with Auckland Rugby’s ProSport has delivered outstanding results for its participants. Don Junior Sau’u is an example of the impact the programme is having, helping him to chase his dream of becoming a professional rugby player.

Read more...

Nestlé Cook for Life - Ka Tunu Ka Ora, has partnered with Mangere Mountain Education Centre (MMEC) with the aim of delivering a unique, interactive daylong workshop to over 750 secondary school students across Auckland this year.

MMEC is a community and educational hub that offers schools an educational programme on ancient Māori heritage, cultivation and harvesting on Mangere Mountain as well as learning about the science of agriculture in their three communal gardens.

Read more...

Imagine if your favourite chocolate bar tasted just as good, but with much less sugar.

This could soon be a reality, thanks to a major breakthrough by Nestlé scientists.

Using only natural ingredients, researchers have found a way to structure sugar differently. So even when much less is used in chocolate, your tongue perceives an almost identical sweetness to before.

The discovery will enable Nestlé to significantly decrease the total sugar in its confectionery products, while maintaining a natural taste.

“This truly groundbreaking research is inspired by nature and has the potential to reduce total sugar by up to 40% in our confectionery,” said Stefan Catsicas, Nestlé Chief Technology Officer.

“Our scientists have discovered a completely new way to use a traditional, natural ingredient.”

This truly groundbreaking research is inspired by nature and has the potential to reduce total sugar by up to 40% in our confectionery. Stefan Catsicas, Nestlé Chief Technology Officer

Nestlé is patenting its findings and will begin to use the faster-dissolving sugar across a range of its confectionery products from 2018 onwards.

The company expects to provide more details about the first roll-out of reduced-sugar confectionery sometime next year.

The research will accelerate Nestlé’s efforts to meet its continued public commitment to reducing sugar in its products.

It is one of a wide range of commitments the company has made on nutrition. This includes improving the nutritional profile of its products by reducing the amount of sugar, salt and saturated fat they contain, while at the same time as increasing healthier nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and whole grain.

 
Milo, the iconic Australian drink born and bred on the NSW mid north coast over 80 years ago, has signed a partnership with FC Barcelona - one of the world’s most famous football clubs.

FC Barcelona, home to some of the most successful soccer players in the sport’s history, signed a four year deal with Milo this week to help promote healthier lifestyles and highlight the importance of physical activity to young people across Oceania, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The global partnership will make Milo the official tonic drink food of FC Barcelona. It’s a long way from Smithtown on the mid north coast where Milo has been made since it was invented by Thomas Mayne in 1934 as tonic food for children during the Great Depression.

Read more...

Purina NZ is proud to announce an exciting new partnership with SPCA New Zealand. Now the principal cat and dog food partner of SPCA, Purina will be providing meals for as many as 50,000 animals that will go through the 46 SPCA centres around the country.

Purina will be supplying more than 80,000kgs of canned and dry cat and dog food annually, along with financial support.

Chief Executive Officer SPCA NZ, Ric Odom, says “feeding all of the animals in our care is an enormous daily task and costs a great deal of money. We simply could not achieve what we do without the considerable efforts and support of partners such as Purina.”

SPCA New Zealand relies on community and corporate supporters to fund all its services. “Purina’s support will make a very real and tangible difference to a huge number of animals throughout New Zealand and will support a vital community service,” says Mr Odom.

From March thousands of cats, kittens, dogs and puppies currently in SPCA centres will be getting the nutritional boost of eating premium Purina pet food. As well as providing food, Purina look forward to supporting SPCA in education programs to prevent cruelty and encourage humane treatment of animals. The Purina team also intends to get involved with volunteering, fundraising, fostering and inevitably adopting.

Purina NZ Head of Marketing Jennifer Chappell says, “We’re so proud to put our name next to a brand that is synonymous with animal care and welfare in New Zealand. Purina believes pets and people are better together, and it’s this core belief that forms the basis for what will be a strong ongoing relationship with SPCA New Zealand.”

“By providing this essential support, we can help the SPCA get on with the really important job of rescuing, rehabilitating, sheltering and re-homing animals in need,” says Ms Chappell.

Champions of pet nutrition for over 85 years, Purina will now be making a real difference to the lives of New Zealand animals in need.

The numbers:

• On average the SPCA centres around the country will need approximately 40,000kgs of dry and canned dog and puppy food and 44,000kgs of canned and dry cat and kitten food from Purina each year
• More than 100,000 SPCA animals are estimated to live in homes across NZ
• More than 4,000 volunteers actively support the SPCA’s work
• 49,000 animals were rescued and cared for by SPCA centres last year
• 13,500 school students were taught about animal welfare through SPCA NZ

Visit Purina for more info!

Nestlé and R&R have completed the transaction to create Froneri, a new joint venture in ice cream, frozen food and chilled dairy.

As announced in April, Froneri will combine Nestlé and R&R’s ice cream activities in Europe, the Middle East (excluding Israel), Argentina, Australia, Brazil, the Philippines and South Africa.

Froneri will also include Nestlé’s European frozen food business (excluding pizza and retail frozen food in Italy), as well as its chilled dairy business in the Philippines.

Read more on Froneri's website

Coffee farmer Zhong Dong Dan proudly presents his three month old grand-daughter. Twenty years ago his family started growing coffee here in Pu’er, a part of China more famous for its tea.

His is not an easy life. The price he can get for his green (unroasted) coffee is subject to the trading that goes on many thousands of miles away at exchanges in New York.

When the price goes up it is tempting to do what he can to increase yields, like clearing away the trees that shade the coffee plants so that more coffee can be planted.

Read how Nestlé is helping farmers tackle climate change.

“I have a deep passion for making a difference”

Martin Brown, Nestlé Oceania’s General Manager of Confectionery travelled to the Ivory Coast earlier this year to get a first-hand look at how Creating Shared Value is improving the lives of cocoa farmers and their families.

What is Creating Shared Value?

At Nestlé we have always believed that in order to prosper, we need the communities we operate in to prosper as well. Creating Shared Value at Nestlé is a win/win, where we contribute to solving a community challenge whilst creating shareholder value. We find these opportunities in the heart of our operations where we make a long term commitment to sustainable solutions.

How does Creating Shared Value impact your business?

The future sustainability of cocoa farming is a compelling challenge for my business. How do we ensure we have enough supply of sustainable cocoa to cover our production needs now and info the future? We believe in going to the source of a challenge to understand it and find a solution. My first trip to Cote d’Ivoire in 2011 as part of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan gave me a deeper understanding and passion for making a difference by leading in sourcing certified sustainable cocoa. In 2013 we became the only major manufacturer in Australia to use 100% sustainable cocoa in our retail chocolate products. I returned to Cote d’Ivoire earlier this year and have been motivated by the improvements already achieved in income and living conditions of cocoa farmers and their families.

Tell me about the Nestlé Cocoa Plan?

The Nestlé Cocoa Plan (insert hyperlink. www.nestlecocoaplan.com) was launched in 2009 and since then has been tackling social, economic and environmental issues in cocoa growing communities. It’s a global program that aims to encourage farmers to enter cocoa farming as a livelihood of choice and enable them to run profitable farms, through providing higher yielding cocoa plants, training farmers and rewarding them financially for good quality, sustainably grown cocoa. I’ve seen first-hand the difference it is making in cocoa growing communities.

When it comes to Creating Shared Value, what does success look like?

Success looks like cocoa farming communities improving their incomes and their social living conditions, particularly access to schooling, clean water and sanitation. It absolutely means a zero tolerance to child labour. At the same time, success looks like an environmentally sound, steady supply of quality cocoa.

We are making good progress on this journey but there’s considerable work left to do. With 40 schools built in communities around the co-operatives Nestlé is working with, we are making good progress on providing closer access for kids to go to school. Through the distribution of 10 million higher yielding disease resistant cocoa plantlets, we are boosting the economic potential of cocoa farms through rejuvenating crops.

What is your role with Nestlé to support the company on this journey?

It’s my responsibility to accelerate our procurement of UTZ Certified sustainable cocoa and we achieved 100% within all our retail chocolate in 2013. It is also my responsibility to engage with local and international stakeholders to communicate our shared value commitments and build understanding for the collective efforts needed to address the complex challenges in cocoa. It is also key that I share our shared value commitments with our own employees to ensure that the practice and ideals behind Creating Shared Value are understand and embraced by all.

Could the broader society benefit from the Creating Shared Value philosophy?

We are facing a future crisis in health funding and a growing incidence of non-communicable diseases. How we jointly tackle the challenges of building knowledge and understanding that is translated into community-wide healthier habits is a very important shared value opportunity for our community, business and government. We are committed to Creating Shared Value in this challenge.

GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT – Today, NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto, the unconventional premium coffee system, announces the launch of its exciting new global campaign ‘Creativity Reinvents The Classics’, featuring GRAMMY award-winning music creator will.i.am.

The campaign celebrates the power of creativity to deliver outstanding quality through a parallel between music and coffee creativity.

At the heart of the campaign is an energetic and vibrant film, which features global superstar will.i.am in studio with NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto, directed by two of the film industry’s leading talents; Diego Contreras and Salomon Ligthelm.

While we discover will.i.am re-interpreting his own unique version of Otis Redding’s iconic hit ‘(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay’ during the film, the ad also reveals how NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto transforms a classic cup of coffee into an amazing and unseen coffee experience.

As will.i.am says, “There is nothing like being creative to reinvent a classic.”

In addition to the campaign film, audiences can discover immersive brand content with an exclusive side by side interview, featuring will.i.am and NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto barista, Ola Persson. During the interview, both experts explain in four steps how they re-invent classics within their respective fields, thanks to their creative touches.

Today, coffee lovers are quick to seek out higher quality coffees and sophisticated coffee experiences. Therefore ‘Creativity Reinvents The Classics’ helps to demonstrate how NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto is committed to producing outstanding coffee experiences that go beyond conventions, using creativity as its key source of inspiration.

“NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto has always been an unconventional coffee brand; we like to push boundaries and challenge the coffee category by reinventing new rules of quality,” says Axel Touzet, Vice President, Head of the Nescafé Dolce Gusto GBU.

“We believe that, when it comes to top quality, creativity makes all the difference; so we go beyond the classic foundations of traditional coffee making to reinterpret it with our creative twist, to deliver superior and amazing coffee experiences.”

For will.i.am the partnership felt natural, “I chose to collaborate with NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto because the core of the campaign is around exploring creativity, which is a huge part of who I am and central to what I do. NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto is committed to producing high quality, great tasting coffee, just as I am committed to producing top quality music,” says will.i.am.

The global launch of ‘Creativity Reinvents The Classics’ will kick-off with will.i.am taking over the NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Facebook pages for 48 hours, from 30th August 2016. During this time, will.i.am will tease coffee lovers by releasing exclusive behind-the-scenes imagery of the campaign shoot, ahead of revealing the exciting campaign film.

Nestlé and Samsung are announcing a research collaboration to explore the potential of nutrition science and digital sensor technologies to provide new insights into healthy living.

They are developing a new digital health platform to provide individuals with more personalised recommendations around nutrition, lifestyle and fitness than previously possible.

The aim is to empower people to better manage their health and wellness using one simple, connected entity, rather than multiple platforms and devices.

More details about the platform are expected when the first pilots begin in early 2017.

Read the full story

Nestlé Australia was voted as one of the country’s top 10 employers from a pool of 150 private and public companies – a position the company has maintained for the past three years.

The Randstad Awards, announced in Sydney last week, revealed the winners of Australia’s largest employer opinion survey.

More than 10,000 people rated the companies on 17 key metrics that included categories covering career opportunities to a company’s social values and work-life balance.

For the second consecutive year, Nestlé was chosen as the most attractive FMCG company and was placed 7th overall, with the next closest consumer goods company coming in at number 14.

1934: Meet the Milo supermen who inspired our super brand

Imagine being so strong that you could lift a young bull up onto your shoulders. Legend has it that Greek athlete Milon of Croton, who won six Olympic events during the 6th century BC, could.

This is the stuff of myth, of course. Aside from obvious animal rights issues, even if you could lift a bull, would you want to? Sounds a bit hairy.

But Milon’s myth captures the spirit of Milo, the brand that delivered on our no bull promise – to help build the energy of kids in Australia suffering from poor diets and malnutrition during The Great Depression.

In 1934 Nestlé Australia food scientist Thomas Mayne developed a powdered chocolate malt drink that people could mix with water or milk, and drink hot or cold. He launched Milo at the Sydney Royal Easter Show that year, and drank a cup every day until he died aged 93.

We started making Milo at a factory in Smithtown, Australia in 1935. It still makes Milo more than 80 years on, and Milo’s success is such that it is now made in 24 other factories worldwide, and sold in more than 40 countries.

The signing of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, committing countries to work to combat global warming, coincides this year with Earth Day.

Nestlé is proud to support both efforts through our Nestlé in Society commitments. We’re working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut waste and increase the use of renewable energy across our business.

So far we’ve reduced our energy consumption per ton of product by 29% over the last 10 years.

Our agronomists have delivered over 90 million free or subsidized coffee and cocoa plants to farmers through our Nescafé Plan and our Nestlé Cocoa Plan, helping reach the UN’s Earth Day goal of planting over 7 billion trees in the next 5 years.

Read more about our Nestlé in Society Commitments (4mb, pdf )

Paul Bulcke, Nestlé CEO: “As anticipated, the first quarter continued the positive momentum in real internal growth, with softer pricing. We gained market share in the majority of our categories and businesses. The strongest performances were in Europe, in South East Asia and in Africa as well as for Nescafé, Nespresso and petcare. Our US frozen food business is progressing well. The trends seen over the last few quarters show the relevance of our investments and allow us to confirm our outlook for the year.”

Read more

2853 shareholders attended the Nestlé S.A. Annual General Meeting today in Lausanne. They represented 53.39 percent of the capital and 75.17 percent of the shares entitled to vote. The annual review and the accounts were approved and the shareholders agreed to the discharge of the Board of Directors and the Management. The shareholders further approved the proposed dividend of CHF 2.25 per share.

All proposals of the Board of Directors were approved with strong majorities.

Click here to read more

“Ours is the original condensed Swiss milk and the best. Every other kind is inferior.”

It was a bold advertising claim, but sound facts lay behind it. An unswerving dedication to product quality drove George and Charles Page, the US brothers and Nestlé forefathers who launched Europe’s first condensed milk in 1867, after founding the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company the year before.

As progressive employers, the Page brothers adopted a scientific approach to dairy farming that was almost unheard of at the time, and were attentive to the well-being of their staff, suppliers and society.

When George Page died in 1899, he left behind a thriving global business selling more than 1.6 million cases of condensed milk a year. In 1905 Anglo-Swiss merged with another Swiss dairy pioneer. The rest is Nestlé history…

Read the full story

‘Good Food, Good Life’ is the promise we make to billions of consumers around the world.

To fulfil that promise we ensure that our products and services are high quality and safe.

We recognise too, our responsibility to ensure that we use water as efficiently as possible.

Globally, withdrawals by industry, by agriculture and by communities are set to exceed supply by 40% by 2030, according to the 2030 Water Resources Group.

As the world’s largest food and beverage company, we can make a significant contribution to helping address this problem, not just in our factories but in our supply 2030 Water Resources Group chains and in our other facilities too.

Each innovation is a step towards a more sustainable future for our business and for the communities in which we operate, part of what we call Creating Shared Value.

We know it’s our job to save water. Here’s ten ways we do it.

Read more

Over one million women in Asian and African farming communities have been empowered through their work with Nestlé, according to a new report.

Launched to coincide with International Women’s Day, the annual Nestlé in society Creating Shared Value report (pdf, 4Mb) also sets out the company’s progress during 2015 in the area of gender balance, noting that 34 percent of leadership positions worldwide are held by women.

“We have always believed that in order to prosper we need the communities we serve and in which we operate to prosper as well,” said Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe and CEO Paul Bulcke.

“Our 39 commitments go beyond compliance and are based on common sense values we believe in, that form the foundation upon which we build our actions in Creating Shared Value.”

The Nestlé in society report, which is published alongside our 2015 Annual Report, gives insights into the company’s progress in the areas of nutrition, water and environmental and social sustainability.

Read more about Creating Shared Value in action.

Nestlé has delivered consistent sustainable performance and growth in a difficult trading environment, according to its 2015 Annual Report (pdf,7.7MB), published today.

In their letter to shareholders that introduces the report, Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe and Chief Executive Officer Paul Bulcke said they were confident that Nestlé will continue to deliver on its long-term commitment to organic growth of 5-6 percent.

As Nestlé celebrates a century and a half of business, they describe how the company is developing beyond food and beverages, with the creation of Nestlé Health Science and Nestlé Skin Health.

“It is our size and our scale that allows us to invest heavily in these new areas that have the potential, over the long term, to offer great benefits for society,” said Mr Brabeck-Letmathe and Mr Bulcke.

The Annual Report contains Nestlé’s Annual Review, Nestlé’s Corporate Governance Report and Financial Statements. It is published alongside the summary report Nestlé in society: Creating Shared Value.

Explore our Annual Report online

Nestlé’s product reformulation system is an effective way to reduce sugar, salt and fat and increase other healthy nutrients, according to a new study published by the European Journal of Nutrition (EJON).

The Nestlé Nutritional Profiling System (NNPS) divides foods into 32 categories – everything from noodles, pizzas and cereal-based foods, to soups, biscuits, cheeses, dairy desserts and sauces – and provides ‘nutrient targets’ for a serving of each, according to your age.

Read the full story

• 4.2% organic growth and 2.2% real internal growth
• Sales of CHF 88.8 billion, foreign exchange impact of -7.4%
• Trading operating profit margin of 15.1%, up 10 basis points in constant currencies
• Underlying earnings per share up 6.5% in constant currencies
• Strong operating cash flow at CHF 14.3 billion
• Proposed dividend increase to CHF 2.25 per share
• 2016 outlook: organic growth in line with 2015 with improvements in margins and underlying earnings per share in constant currencies, and capital efficiency

Paul Bulcke, Nestlé CEO: “In 2015 we delivered profitable growth at the higher end of the industry in what is still a challenging environment. This profitable growth was on the back of consistent performances in previous years. Our organic growth of 4.2% was supported by increased momentum in real internal growth combined with continued margin improvement. Additionally, we grew or maintained market share in the majority of our categories and markets.

Read the full story

KitKat has become the first global confectionery brand sourced from 100% certified sustainable cocoa, supplied through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan that aims to improve lives in farming communities and the quality of beans.

“Nestlé is proud that KitKat is the first global confectionary brand to be sourced from 100% sustainable cocoa,” said Sandra Martinez, Nestlé’s Head of Confectionery.

“At Nestlé, it’s critically important that we are part of a system that takes care of the people and environment that makes our brands possible. Social responsibility is crucial to the farming communities in Côte d’Ivoire, and also to the quality of our products.”

To mark the announcement, socially conscious YouTube personality Louis Cole is fronting four films shot in Côte d’Ivoire that explain the Nestlé Cocoa Plan’s three pillars: better farming, better cocoa and better lives.

One film features world-famous footballer Didier Drogba, and reveals Nestlé’s new partnership with The Didier Drogba Foundation, which supports vulnerable Ivorians in the areas of health and education.

On the Foundation’s behalf, Nestlé will build a state-run school in Drogba’s home region of Gagnoa, Côte d’Ivoire.

“I am proud of the partnership my foundation has with Nestlé. It will help continue to make a difference to the education and lives of children in Côte d’Ivoire,” Drogba said.

Nestlé supports children’s education under the Nestlé Cocoa Plan, and has now built more than 40 schools in the country to extend access to more than 10,000 children and young people, and help prevent child labour.

Read more about our partnership with Didier Drogba’s Foundation, and how building schools helps stop child labour.

Nestlé is ranked first in the 2016 Access to Nutrition Index (ATNI) for its marketing of breast milk substitutes and came second in the overall index, improving on its third place in 2013.

ATNI said that breast milk substitute (BMS) manufacturers should adopt a comprehensive BMS Marketing Policy, fully aligned with the WHO Code and subsequent resolutions, and apply it globally. Nestlé is committed to marketing BMS responsibly, and will look closely at the areas where ATNI recommends improvements.

ATNI 2016 ranks the world’s largest 22 food and beverage companies on their nutrition-related commitments and performance across seven categories: governance, products, accessibility, marketing, lifestyles, labelling and engagement.

Nestlé came top in other sub-categories aside from BMS marketing: general nutrition and undernutrition.

The index highlights Nestlé’s “clear corporate nutrition strategy” that covers product reformulation, access to healthy foods and marketing: areas where it has built trust by making clear public commitments.

ATNI was developed as an independent benchmarking tool for use by investors, health advocates and companies, and is collated using information in the public domain and supplied by companies themselves.

Driven by its passion for nutrition, Nestlé will continue to engage with ATNI, and welcomes the report’s specific recommendations on how it can improve its performance, to tackle global nutrition challenges.

Since 1866, Nestlé has developed science-based products inspired by our passion for nutrition that have enhanced and even saved lives.

‘Good Food, Good Life’: Celebrating 150 years of Nestlé that have shaped our history of innovation and changed the modern world – from ‘farine lactée’ to Nescafé and Cailler.

Given increasing concerns about labour and human rights abuses in the seafood supply chain and our commitment to eliminate such practices, Nestlé has published an Action Plan (pdf,650Kb) on seafood sourced from Thailand. It contains a series of actions designed to protect workers from abuses, improve working conditions and tackle unacceptable practices including juvenile and teenage working.

Commenting on the release of the Action Plan, Executive Vice President of Operations at Nestlé, Magdi Batato said: “Nestlé is committed to eliminating forced labour in our seafood supply chain in Thailand, working alongside other stakeholders to tackle this serious and complex issue.”

“We believe that our Action Plan will help improve the lives of those affected by unacceptable practices. This will be neither a quick nor an easy endeavour, but we look forward to making significant progress in the months ahead.”

Read more about our plan and view our infographic to better understand the actions we are taking.

Nestlé has met one of its nutrition commitments for 2015 with the launch of the Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme in Jordan. It marks the 80th country the programme has reached.

Nestlé announced a number of public commitments to society in 2013 in areas relevant to the company’s operations – nutrition, water, rural development, sustainability and compliance. The company aims to meet these by 2020 or earlier and reports regularly on the progress made.

As part of its commitment to 'Promote healthy diets and lifestyles, including physical activity', Nestlé pledged to extend its Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme from 73 to 80 countries this year.

The Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme was launched in 2009 to raise awareness of nutrition and healthier lifestyles among school-age children. The company hopes to help encourage better health choices from an early age into adulthood.

Working together with almost 300 partners from local governments, universities, scientific institutions and child nutrition associations, the programme has reached more than 7.5 million children worldwide.

Read the Nestlé Jordan press release and learn more about how the Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme is making a difference around the world.

We announce our 2015 nine-month sales on Friday 16 October.

PDF Press Releases:

• English (pdf, 256Kb)
• Français (pdf, 207Kb)
• Deutsch (pdf, 155Kb)

Hosted by Paul Bulcke, Nestlé Chief Executive Officer, and François-Xavier Roger, Nestlé Chief Financial Officer. The Chief Executive Officer of Nestlé Health Science Greg Behar provided an update on this business.

	Webcast on-demand in English | Français | Deutsch available soon.
	Sales conference presentation slides (pdf, 6Mb)

Nescafé is the world’s first coffee brand to provide consumers with a fully immersive virtual reality experience, by transporting them to Brazil’s coffee fields using their mobile phones and an ingenious viewer developed by Google.

After downloading the Nescafé 360˚ app, which is also available for Android and iPhone, consumers can slip their mobile into a Nescafé-branded Google Cardboard virtual reality viewer. Manufactured principally from cardboard, the viewer contains two lenses that provide a stereoscopic image.

You can turn your head in any direction to experience Brazil’s coffee fields through three specially filmed 3D videos accessible via the app, which showcase how Nestlé’s Nescafé Plan is helping its supplier farmers achieve better quality coffee, higher yields and an increased income.

The global launch of Nescafé 360˚ coincides with International Coffee Day on September 29, and involves distributing around 10,000 headsets across 13 markets, either through in-store events or as competition prizes. Non-3D versions of the videos will also be available on YouTube.

The Nescafé 360˚ launch is another significant digital milestone for Nescafé, which recently became the first global brand to move all its international and local websites to Tumblr, as it builds upon its strong social media position and develops closer relationships with younger consumers.

Nestlé has announced its entry into the global super-premium chocolate category with its almost 200 year old Swiss chocolate brand Cailler.

With Amazon as its primary retailer, Nestlé will sell Cailler chocolate in select markets in the US, Europe and Asia.

Founded by François-Louis Cailler in 1819, Cailler is one of Switzerland’s oldest existing chocolate brands. It is still produced at its historic factory in Broc, ‘Maison Cailler’, using milk from local farms and high quality cocoa from the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.

Four different variety boxes in a choice of small and large sizes and eight tablets will be available to buy through Amazon in the US, UK and Germany.

Cailler will also be sold through travel retail outlets in major airports in Geneva, Zurich, Dubai and Singapore. In November the brand will introduce a fifth variety box globally, and will launch in China that month through Amazon.

Cailler’s global chocolate range features artwork hand-designed by Swiss artisan, Marianne Dubuis, who incorporates the Swiss art of découpage (paper-cutting) into her silhouette-based designs. Each one tells a part of the Cailler story.

“We’re pleased to introduce Cailler to the wider world” said Sandra Martinez, Head of Nestlé’s global confectionery business.

“It has all the characteristics of a super-premium product – a high quality product with a unique brand story and image. We believe it has significant global potential.”

Learn more about Cailler’s almost 200 year history and read an article by the Financial Times (paywall protected) on Nestlé’s entry into the global super-premium chocolate market with Cailler. View the press release for more information (pdf, 375Kb)

Nescafé has become the first global brand to move all its international and local websites to the Tumblr platform, with the aim of building stronger relationships with younger consumers.

The change reflects its position as Nestlé’s top-performing brand on social media, with more than 35 million fans worldwide. It will allow Nescafé to further develop consumer-led communications and its e-commerce offering in formats optimised for mobiles and tablets.

Tumblr, which hosts more than 250 million blogs and 110 billion individual posts, is a cross between a micro-blogging site and social network.

The new global Nescafé Tumblr platform allows fans to share images, videos, GIFs and other coffee-related content uploaded by the Tumblr community.

It is the latest in a series of recent innovations from the Nescafé brand, following the 2014 launch of a new, unified look and feel across all of its products in the 180 countries where it is sold.

These include the Wake-Up app, a ‘mobile social alarm clock’, the ready-to-drink chilled Nescafé Shakissimo range, and a new flagship store in Tokyo, Japan.

A new study by Nestlé scientists working with the international EpiGen Consortium found whole grain intake among pregnant women in Singapore to be below international guidelines, potentially increasing their risk of developing gestational diabetes.

Published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical nutrition, the research is the first comprehensive analysis of whole grain intake in an Asian population, among pregnant women.

Read the full story here

A 'zero water' factory in Mexico, a UK confectionery factory that turns waste into renewable energy – just two examples of the kind of work that has helped Nestlé achieve an industry leading score of 99 out of 100 in the 'Environmental Dimension' of the 2015 Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).

The DJSI is a globally recognised independent benchmark that measures company performance across three dimensions: Economic, Environmental and Social.

With an overall score of 89 out of 100 in the DJSI ranking, Nestlé was among the top performing food product companies. In the Index’s 'Environmental Dimension', its score of 99 is the highest in the industry, which underlines its commitment to water stewardship and environmental sustainability.

For instance, Nestlé is committed to achieving water efficiency and sustainability across its operations, and one example is the introduction of 'zero water' technology at its dairy factory in Jalisco, Mexico, which allows the plant to operate without using any local groundwater.

The UK provides another example of new, more sustainable production processes: an anaerobic digestion system at Nestlé's Fawdon confectionery factory turns confectionery waste into renewable energy and clean water.

Nestlé's status as the leading Nutrition, Health & Wellness company was recognised with a top score of 100 for Health & Nutrition in the Index, a testament to work done in areas including product innovation and renovation.

For more information visit the Dow Jones Sustainability Index website.

Oceania’s Creating Shared Value Report 2014

KitKat is the first global chocolate brand to announce that it will use only sustainably sourced cocoa to manufacture all of its products, and will do so from Q1 2016.

The brand already uses only sustainably sourced cocoa, accredited by independent third-party bodies, in products sold in certain markets, but this new announcement extends the practice worldwide, including the United States.

Sandra Martinez, Head of Confectionery for Nestlé, said: “We’re delighted to be a flag bearer for the industry, as the first global chocolate brand to announce such a move.

Sustainable cocoa sourcing helps safeguard the livelihoods of farming communities and delivers higher quality cocoa beans. This announcement will only strengthen consumer trust in KitKat as a responsible brand.”  The initiative, which coincides with KitKat 80th birthday, is part of Nestlé’s commitment to source 150,000 tonnes of sustainably produced cocoa by 2017 via the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.  The Nestlé Cocoa Plan aims to improve the lives of cocoa farming communities and the quality of the cocoa Nestlé purchases. 

As KitKat marks eight decades since its launch, learn more about how ‘moment marketing’ helped this iconic brand conquer the digital world.

Few 80-year-olds can claim to be trendsetters in the digital age, so how has a brand celebrating its eighth decade managed to take social media by storm?

Launched in 1935, KitKat, with its trademark red wrapper and chocolate fingers, has not just stood the test of time, it has never stopped moving with it.

Named the most influential candy bar of all time by Time magazine, this wafer-filled chocolate treat has defied eight decades of changing business environments and consumer mindsets to become one of the world’s top ten fast-moving consumer goods brands in social media.

Its secret? Its strong brand equity and its knack for leveraging ‘moment marketing’ – the ability to move fast and leverage topical or news events.

Read the full story

Nespresso has reported significant progress towards achieving its sustainability goals, as the brand marks the first anniversary of the launch of its sustainability strategy The Positive Cup.

Backed by a CHF 500 million investment, The Positive Cup established steps that the brand will take in three areas to meet its sustainability goals by 2020: coffee sourcing and social welfare, aluminium sourcing, use and disposal and climate change.

Over the past two years, Nespresso has invested to help rebuild the coffee industry in South Sudan, and in 2014 it launched a retirement savings plan for Colombian farmers that already has 850 members.

With its not-for-profit partner TechnoServe, Nespresso has provided training and technical assistance to over 10,000 farmers in Kenya and Ethiopia during the last year, and the brand is also reintroducing trees in coffee-producing regions to protect ecosystems and ensure sustainable coffee production.

Read the full story on the Nespresso website.

We’ve heard from many passionate MILO drinkers who are concerned their much love drink has changed.

We are as passionate about MILO as you, our loyal consumers, and we want to assure you that the core ingredients of MILO – milk powder, malted barley, cocoa and sugar – have not changed.

Scientists have used a 2.3 kilometre long X-ray particle accelerator to discover the structural changes that cause ‘fat bloom’, the unsightly white layer that can form on the surface of chocolate.

Read the full story.

Nestlé is investing in innovative technology to help reduce the amount of water it uses in California at the five water bottling plants and four facilities where food or petcare products are manufactured.

Read the full story.

Hospitality students from around the country will put their culinary and restaurant service skills to the test in July, when they battle it out for the top title in this year’s Nestlé Toque d’Or competition.

The event which will celebrate a 25 year milestone birthday, pits the country’s top talents against each other in a live kitchen cook off that has been fiercely contended for many years. Last year, Otago Polytechnic Cromwell Campus took out the top title.

NZChefs National President and organiser of the event, Graham Hawkes, said the event is considered by those in the hospitality industry to be the pre-eminent student culinary and front of house competition.

“Menus and practice routines in the lead up to the big day are a closely guarded secret not too dissimilar to that of a well-known international yacht race,” he said.

“On the day, while everything on the surface might look like plain sailing to an onlooker, scratch the surface and you’ll find underneath all sorts of finely honed techniques aimed at helping a team to gain the upper edge on the day.”

Read the full story.

To assist the people of Vanuatu in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Pam, Nestlé will donate 500 cartons of Maggi noodles to the country’s relief efforts.

Entire villages were flattened during the category 5 cyclone which tore through the nation’s capital Port Vila and the 83 surrounding islands with wind gusts of 300kh/h.

Search and rescue missions are currently underway but so far at least 23 people have lost their lives and thousands left homeless with the number expected to rise.

The Maggi Noodles will be distributed this week through the Red Cross, one of the charities co-ordinating on-the-ground relief efforts.

The Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme reached 7.6 million children in 2014 across 73 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and the Americas.

Take a look at how the Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme is making a difference around the world, ahead of the publication of our Creating Shared Value report next week.

The New Zealand government has announced that they are responding to an anonymous threat to contaminate infant formula products.

We do not manufacture any infant formula in New Zealand, but continue to follow this matter closely with the government.

Their advice is that the likelihood of infant formula or other formula products being contaminated is low.  New Zealand authorities are increasing the number of tests in the local supply chain and as a precaution, in light of the concerns; we are also taking additional steps to ensure the safety and integrity of our products.

The quality and safety of our products are the top priorities for our company.

If you would like further information about our infant formula, please contact us on 0800 463 268.

For further information about information about infant formula in New Zealand, please see the Ministry of Primary Industries website at www.mpi.govt.nz.

When two Swiss pilots climb into the cockpit next week to make the first ever attempt to fly a solar powered aircraft around the world, the specially designed food and drink they need to fuel them during the challenge will be supplied by Nestlé.

Nestlé scientists have spent four years working closely with the Solar Impulse project to develop a range of meals and snacks that can withstand extreme variations in temperature and climatic conditions and give the pilots the proper energy and protein content to cope with tough physical conditions. Nestlé is one of the sponsors of the project.

“With the various challenges the pilots will encounter, we’ve had to take into account and repeatedly test how the extreme conditions will impact different aspects of the food we’ve developed, including nutrition integrity, preservation and packaging,” said Nestlé Research scientist, Dr. Amira Kassis, who has led the Nestlé work to develop the food for the pilots.

In addition to the specially designed food and drinks the pilots will be supplied with Nestlé bottled water and Nescafé soluble coffee.

Read the Nestlé Research press release.

Learn more about how Nestlé Research is contributing to the Solar Impulse project in our R&D section.

*************

Video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ReP2lvLMQ4

Homepage highlight:

Nestlé food to fuel solar flight pilots

Tailor-made food by Nestlé researchers will aid record attempt

*************

Nestlé has pledged to pilot a new reporting framework on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as part of its ongoing efforts to effectively manage human rights in its operations.

The reporting framework follows some 18 months of work by multiple entities led by the group Shift, which was founded in 2011 to work with businesses, governments and other stakeholders to put the UN Guiding Principles into practice.

Read more about the reporting framework.

Already more than 31,500 Kiwis have taken the Choose Wellness Quiz since the end of October last year and our septuagenarians have come out on top!

The Nestlé Choose Wellness Quiz gives a score of up to 100 based on happiness, diet, exercise, health behaviours, sleep and social interaction. For people aged 70 or older the average wellness score is a spectacular 70, compared with the average adult scoring 63.The youngest respondents (<40 years) scored 58-59 – more than 10 points lessthan the oldest. However, scores got progressively better as people got older: 45-49 years scored 61, 55-59 years scored 65, and 65-69 years scored 69.

So what’s their secret? Hip Op-eration Crew, the world’s oldest dance group (Guinness World record holder 2014) knows a thing or two about making the most of your twilight years.

Read the full story.

Nestlé has contributed to a new report just released that aims to identify new opportunities for protecting natural resources such as water, soil and timber that underpin global supply chains and provide commercial value.

Doing business with nature (pdf, 9Mb), a collaboration between Nestlé, the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and other entities, discusses the impact that deteriorating natural resources has on economies and the implications for businesses.

The report also discusses the different responses businesses are taking to manage natural capital, such as water, throughout their operations and supply chains.

In a Foreword for the report, José Lopez, Nestlé Executive Vice President and Head of Operations, writes: “In Nestlé, we need to be able to consistently assess where to prioritise our efforts on natural capital and this report provides the knowledge base that can inform our decisions.”

Please find more information in the full report.

A group of Nestlé scientists travelled to the world’s highest revolving restaurant – the ThreeSixty in Saas-Fee, Switzerland – for a day’s cooking at high altitude, some 3,600 metres above sea level.

Back in the lab, at 833 metres above sea level, they repeated the cooking process and scientifically compared the results. Their conclusion – food cooked at high altitude tastes and looks better and may even improve the nutritional quality of food.

Read the full article about the Nestlé research.

The Nestlé Research Center (NRC) has announced the results of a joint study that shows the role of external factors, such as mode of birth delivery, that impact the development of key gut bacteria in infants.

The gut bacteria is commonly referred to as the microbiome, which consists of around 100 trillion microorganisms that live in the body and perform a variety of important functions, including supporting the immune system.

The results of the study provide further insights that could eventually lead to the development of nutritional products for expecting mothers. The study is being published February 3 in the journal, mBio, which is published by the American Society for Microbiology.

The NRC, the world’s largest private nutritional research centre, worked with researchers at the international EpiGen Consortium, which has made significant research discoveries in recent years in the areas of maternal and young child nutrition. The consortium consists of researchers based at five centres around the world, including the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, who led the current study.

Nestlé has been collaborating with the EpiGen Consortium since 2011, studying how the diet and lifestyles of pregnant women influence the activity of their baby’s genes and how these subtle epigenetic changes impact the future healthy growth and development of their children.

For more information on the study, visit the mBio website. Learn more about Nestlé’s research into cutting-edge maternal nutrition and view an infographic on epigenetics.

Nestlé will provide an in-depth look at humans’ relationship with food through a unique, interactive exhibition in the Swiss Pavilion at the upcoming Expo 2015.

Expo 2015 is the largest global event dedicated to food, with over 20 million visitors expected. The exhibition will focus on the theme ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’ and will take place from 1 May to 31 October 2015 in Milan.

Nestlé’s exhibition will demonstrate how nutrition, the body and mind are interlinked; explaining the many physiological, sensory and emotional factors that influence taste and eating preferences.

It is designed in collaboration with the Nestlé Research Center, the Nestlé Institute of Health Science and the Istituto Auxologico Italiano (Italian Institute for Auxology).

Other sections at Expo 2015 will showcase Nestlé's responsible use of water and the Nescafé Plan. Through the Nescafé Plan, Nestlé helps approximately 400,000 farmers across 14 countries improve their incomes and living and working conditions, and reduce their environmental footprint.

Read the full press release in Italian on the Nestlé Italy website or the English translation of the press release (pdf, 500Kb).

The Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences, part of Nestlé’s global research and development network, has announced that it will continue collaborating with the Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry in the UK as part of a ground-breaking study into how childhood life, including diet, affects our health as adults.

For more information on the study, please visit the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences website.

With vast equatorial forests and a growing number of its smallholder farmers receiving training, South Sudan is starting to increase honey production, with the potential long term promise of becoming a bigger player in the USD 12 billion world honey market, according to Honey Care Africa (HCA).

Kenya-based HCA, founded in 2000, is a World Fair Trade Organization company focused on providing opportunities in East Africa for rural, smallholder households to generate income through honey production.

Read the full story.

Nestlé’s work to empower women in the cocoa supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire kicked off in 2013 and we’re making more headway with our partners on this important issue.

In recent months, for example, we’ve helped train four cocoa cooperatives on gender issues in order to open more roles, such as lead farmers and nursery managers, to women. The cooperatives have also now produced their own action plans for improving the positions of women in the cocoa supply chain.

The new measures are reflected in a new progress report Nestlé has published on its Action Plan (pdf, 500Kb) to help improve the lives of women in its cocoa supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire. The Action Plan is part of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan programme launched in 2013 in Côte d’Ivoire to improve the lives of cocoa farmers and the quality of their crops, and to tackle low productivity and child labour.

The Action Plan was updated in August 2014, following the Fair Labor Association’s (FLA) assessment of Nestlé’s cocoa supply chain (pdf, 2Mb) in the country.

As part of the other steps taken recently, the number of women who lead and oversee Nestlé cocoa plantlet nurseries has increased from 3 percent to 23 percent. There are a total of 32 Nestlé-run plantlet nurseries.

Nestlé’s progress report reflects actions it has taken between August 2014 and January 2015. The report discusses Nestlé’s plans for 2015 under three main action pillars: promoting equal opportunities, giving women a voice and helping to increase women’s income.

Though Ivorian women play a number of direct and supporting roles in cocoa production, their roles often go unrecognised. Men take responsibility for collecting payment for the cocoa, often making a woman’s compensation for her labour dependent on her relationship with a man.

Thus, challenging the perceptions of women’s roles in the cocoa supply chain are an important dimension to ongoing work of Nestlé and its partners. Nestlé plans to expand the roll out of its Action Plan for female cocoa farmers to Ghana in mid-2016.

For more information, please download the progress report (pdf, 2Mb).

Read Bloomberg’s article on Nestlé’s work with female cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire.

Nestlé is to intensify its research in the field of epigenetics, the science of how eating behaviours and other environmental factors can affect your genes, health and that of your offspring, for future generations to come.

The company has announced it will contribute CHF 22 million to a six-year research partnership with an international alliance of researchers at institutions in Southampton, Auckland and Singapore, who make up the EpiGen Consortium.

The jointly-funded public-private partnership will be one of the largest of its kind.

Read the full story and take a look at the infographic.

Nestlé Skin Health will create ‘innovation hubs’ where scientists, healthcare professionals and other experts can meet to share information about the latest developments in skin healthcare.

The new ‘SHIELD centres’ will be opened in partnership with the Global Coalition on Ageing.

The first centre will be opened in New York in 2015 with others to follow around the globe.

Read more about the importance of skin health for an ageing society.

Read the Nestlé Skin Health press release on their website.

Companies like Nestlé can only be successful over time if they live up to high ethical standards of human rights, CEO Paul Bulcke has told the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, held in Geneva.

In a keynote speech, Mr Bulcke said: "Human rights is about doing, is about how we behave – every day, everywhere. It is what each of us does, and yes, even more importantly, it's the how we do it.

"It is in the actions, on the ground, where respect for human rights is visible, in the countries where companies operate, where they have their people working for them, where they source their raw materials and link up with societies; where they produce, where they sell their products and services."

Mr Bulcke's speech explored the importance of trust and transparency in business and explained how Nestlé implements these values in its day-to-day activities, to connect positively with society.

Watch a webcast of the event and read the speech in full (pdf, 195 Kb) 

Read more about Nestlé’s Corporate Business Principles and its efforts to integrate human rights into its day-to-day activities and how Nestlé ensures rights are respected around the world.

Explore how Nestlé assesses human rights impacts (pdf, 909 Kb) across its business activities.

Research by Nestlé scientists suggests that future food and nutritional products could emulate the effects of exercise on the body’s metabolism.

These products would help maintain a healthy energy balance – achieved by balancing nutrients taken in with those consumed or stored – by using the same cellular mechanisms normally activated by exercise.

This would benefit those having difficulties remaining active due to lifestyle, old age, disease or disability.

Read the full story and take a look at the infographic.

Environmental sustainability ratings agency CDP has named Nestlé as joint top in the consumer staples sector for its efforts to tackle deforestation.

In its 2014 report on global forests, Deforestation-free supply chains: From commitments to action, CDP commended Nestlé among 152 companies for its comprehensive assessment of risks and for the quality of its work to build capacity in the supply chain.

The same agency awarded Nestlé a Leadership level with a score of 20/20 for its water stewardship strategy in a separate report. Nestlé was commended for its well-integrated water strategy its detailed understanding of water risks and impacts and for its public commitments on water.

Since 2003, Nestlé has halved the water withdrawals from its factories per tonne of product. By 2015 the company commits to further reducing direct water withdrawal per tonne of product in every product category to achieve an overall reduction of 40% since 2005.

“This recognition for our efforts to preserve and protect water and the world’s forest resources – both precious and limited commodities – underscores our continued collective efforts and our desire to share them more broadly,” said Pascal Gréverath, Head of Environmental Sustainability.

Nestlé Purina’s FRISKIES brand has updated its ranking of the top 50 most influential cats on the Internet, and Grumpy Cat has maintained her #1 position out of the more than 250 furry friends considered for the latest list.

Maru, originally coming in at the #14 spot when the top 50 list was launched in July, has also held steady in the #2 position.

The FRISKIES 50 list of the most influential Internet cats uses a proprietary algorithm based on each cat’s social media reach and engagement levels across various social platforms.

The index methodology also takes into account the cat’s presence in traditional news such as recent mentions in print and online articles.

While each cat’s ranking is strongly influenced by the number of social channels the cat is engaged on and the level of media coverage they receive, a key factor is also the public's reception of the content and coverage.

The list does not represent all cats whose owners have created social accounts on their behalf. As new accounts are created, those account holders must correspond with the FRISKIES 50 for inclusion in the list.

For more information, please see FRISKIES 50  

Nestlé has announced its endorsement of Caring for Climate, the world’s largest coalition on climate issues, as part of the company’s long standing efforts to further provide climate change leadership.

Speaking at the UN Climate Summit in New York, José Lopez, Nestlé Executive Vice President and Head of Operations, said the company would back related initiatives of other leading international organisations, such as CDP, given the need of addressing the climate change issue.

“The Caring for Climate initiative is fully aligned with our own explicit commitments, which reflect our respect for society in which we operate, respect for the environment, respect for the future generations” said Mr. Lopez.

Read the full story and take a look at the infographic.

A new Nespresso sustainability strategy to 2020, based on a CHF500 million (EUR414 million) investment, will improve farmer welfare and drive environmental sustainability in coffee sourcing and consumption.

The new initiative, The Positive Cup, builds upon the steps that Nespresso has already taken over the past five years.

NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto used coffee capsules can now be recycled every year and turned into new products and materials as part of a new capsule recycling program launched in Australia and New Zealand.

The partnership, between TerraCycle and Nestlé, will not only help to reduce the number of NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto coffee, milk and tea pods going to landfill, but the scheme will also benefit charities as a percentage of each capsule will go to a not-for-profit organisation.

Consumers will be able to mail their used NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto capsules free through Australia Post to TerraCycle. For every capsule collected over a 2kg shipment, participants will earn up to two cents per capsule to be redeemed for a payment to a charity of the consumer’s choice.

The capsules will be then recycled into two streams: residual coffee grounds will be separated and sent to an industrial composting facility, instead of going to landfill. The plastic capsules will be melted down, pelletised and made into a range of new sustainable products such as park benches, garden pavers, and a range of home accessories.

Click here for the full story.

Nestlé has announced a major pledge to improve the welfare of the farm animals in its supply chain, following the signature of a partnership agreement with NGO World Animal Protection.

The agreement means that the hundreds of thousands of farms that supply Nestlé with its dairy, meat, poultry and eggs will have to comply with tighter animal welfare standards.

Nestlé, with its global purchasing footprint, also becomes the first major food company to form an international partnership with an animal welfare NGO.

In order to help cats maintain their mental capacities into older age, Nestlé Purina, one of the world’s leading pet care producers, has developed a nutritional supplement consisting of fish oil and antioxidants.

Nestlé Purina will begin adding the nutritional supplement, known as Brain Protection Blend, to select Purina products for cats and dogs in the next 12 to 18 months.

Read the full story.

The Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) and Waters Corporation – a company based in Massachusetts, USA – have begun working together on a groundbreaking new research project which could one day lead to the development of made-to- measure vitamin combinations tailored to individual needs.

The collaboration initially aims to develop a new generation of tests for measuring the amount of vitamins in body fluids such as blood and urine. It builds on NIHS ’s expertise in nutrients and micronutrients research, and Waters’ state-of-the-art analytical technologies.

Current laboratory analyses of nutrients in biological samples lack sensitivity, are slow and can only measure a limited number of molecules at once. This project will develop new methods that can measure a broad range of nutrients and micronutrients – particularly vitamins and their related metabolites – in a quick, accurate and robust way.

Read the full story about the collaboration (pdf, 66Kb) and Bloomberg's feature on how Nestlé is re-shaping personalised nutrition.

Health Star Rating: Scheme approved by Federal Government last month.

Nestlé Australia and New Zealand announced that it will be implementing the voluntary Health Star Rating scheme that was approved by the Federal Government last month.

We will begin rolling out the front-of-pack Health Star Rating scheme on products in Australia and New Zealand by the end of the year.

Under the Government’s scheme certain foods will be exempt from displaying the Health Star Rating symbol on packs such as infant nutrition products, foods for special medical purposes and single ingredient foods such as coffee.

As part of our commitment to supporting the public health agendas of the Australian and New Zealand governments and providing consumers with transparent nutrition information, we will also introduce an easy to understand on pack Portion Guidance Device in both countries.

Nescafé, the world’s first instant coffee and the fifth most valuable food and drink brand, is launching a unified, global look and feel across all products in the 180 countries where the coffee is sold.

It is the first time in the brand’s 75-year history that each and every Nescafé product will share the same visual identity and use the same new slogan: “It all starts with a Nescafé”.

“Nescafé is our largest single brand, a CHF10bn brand, and one of the cornerstones of our company. It is a symbol of Nestlé all around the world,” said Patrice Bula, Nestlé’s Global Head of Marketing.

“But we live in a more globalised, social world and we realised that we needed a more unified, powerful umbrella for a brand like Nescafé - a single personality that could also be expressed differently in each country,” he explained.

The unified approach to packaging design, communication and digital strategy for Nescafé, drunk at a rate of 5,500 cups each second, will feature several key design elements developed with new, younger consumers in mind.

These include the Nescafé red accent, taken from the modernised Nescafé brand mark, the iconic red Nescafé mug and a stylised graphic device, the “hub” – an aerial view of a mug of coffee.

For the full story click here.

Nestlé has published a free guide to setting up vegetable gardens with children.

The booklet, aimed at parents and teachers, is part of its Global Healthy Kids programme.

The simple and useful guide explains how everyone can grow their own vegetables to help feed a family or local community. Gardening can be a powerful tool to promote eating vegetables and fruits while also raising childrens’ environmental awareness.

The Nestlé Healthy Kids Global Programme aims to increase nutrition and health knowledge and promote physical activity among school-age children around the world. It provides schools with nutrition knowledge, teaching methods and materials, and offers workshops in gardening and healthy cooking for parents and carers as well as children.

Nestlé works with more than 250 partners worldwide, including national and local governments, NGOs, nutrition health institutes and sport federations on its Healthy Kids programmes. They supports Nestlé’s work to promote healthier lifestyles and diets for kids to help them grow into healthy and productive adults.

In 2013, the Healthy Kids Programme reached 6.9 million children across 68 countries and Nestlé plans to extend the Programme to cover 80 countries by 2015.

Learn more about the Nestlé Global Healthy Kids programme and the Nutrir Healthy Kids Programme in Ecuador, which helped produce the booklet.

Nestlé’s efforts to meet a series of commitments in areas where the company engages with society are detailed in a new report, Nestlé in Society 2013 (pdf, 3Mb).

The 35 pledges cover nutrition, water, rural development, sustainability and compliance.

Nestlé aims to fulfil all these commitments by 2020 or earlier. Ten are new this year and six are updated, based on feedback from stakeholders over the last 12 months.

The report underlines Nestlé’s fundamental belief that, for a company to be successful over the long term and create value for shareholders, it must also create value for society. The commitments show our determination to achieve this.

They include, for example, leading the industry in nutrition and health research, and providing nutritionally sound products designed for children.

Read the full story and find out more about how Nestlé puts Creating Shared Value into practice around the world.

Nestlé has become the first major multi-national company to report publicly on its human rights impacts across seven countries, and what it is doing to address them.

Ahead of international Human Rights Day tomorrow, the company has published a white paper (pdf, 910Kb) using information from human rights impact assessments performed in collaboration with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) in Angola, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Russia, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan.

The paper, launched at the Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva last week, focuses on actions Nestlé has taken to improve its human rights performance at both country operations and corporate level.

Click here for the full story.

Android KitKat has arrived.

The wait is over! Google has released Android KitKat, the latest version of its Android mobile operating system, named after our popular confectionery brand. Take a look at what people are saying...

Click Here for the full story.

The fifth edition of the Nestlé Creating Shared Value Forum has ended after a day of lively debate on the role of business in promoting development.

The event was opened by the Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos and First Lady, María Clemencia Rodríguez de Santos.

It was co-hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and took place in the Colombian city of Cartagena, after editions in New York, London, Washington DC and New Delhi.

Click here for the full story

Scientists from the Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland studied a group of women with visceral obesity - where excess fat is concentrated around the internal organs - and discovered they had a distinct ‘metabolic signature’ of lipids and amino acids in common, as well as specific changes in gut microbial activities.

The findings, published in the journal PLOS ONE, are part of an ongoing scientific collaboration between Nestlé and General Electric to find efficient and inexpensive methods of screening and monitoring body composition in individuals.

Click here for the full story.

​​Google has ended months of online speculation about the name of the latest version of its Android mobile operating system by revealing it will be called ‘Android KitKat’, after Nestlé’s popular chocolate and wafer confectionery.

The creators of the world’s most popular mobile platform have teamed up with the world’s biggest food and beverage company to name the next release of the platform ‘Android KitKat’.

Android has been developed by the company’s engineers under sweet-themed names ever since the release of Android Cupcake in 2009 and continuing in alphabetical order until the most recent version, Android Jelly Bean.

The news that the letter ‘K’ will be dedicated to Nestlé’s KitKat will surprise most technology commentators, who had widely thought the latest version would be ‘Android Key Lime Pie’.

“We couldn’t imagine a better name for our Android K release than the tasty chocolate that’s been a favorite among the team since the early days of Android,” said Marc Vanlerberghe, Director of Android Marketing.

Click here for the full story.

A Nestlé brand that started as an idea to solve the problem of what to do with unsold coffee is celebrating its 75th anniversary and its position as one of the world’s favourite drinks.

Today more than 5,500 cups of Nescafé instant coffee are consumed every second with different varieties catering to different tastes and preferences around the globe.

“We are celebrating the rich history and heritage of Nescafé, the world’s first instant coffee, which has kept the distinct coffee aroma. Over the past 75 years it has evolved from a tin of coffee to a full portfolio of products and systems,” said Carsten Fredholm, Head of Nestlé’s Beverage Strategic Business Unit.

“Nescafé is present in over 180 countries and we are also highlighting its promise for future growth as it continues to lead the coffee beverage category,” he added.

Click here for the full story.

Nestlé has published a set of forward-looking commitments to society and on environment sustainability it aims to meet by 2020 or earlier.

The company has identified 30 goals in the areas of nutrition, water, rural development, sustainability and compliance in its new report, ‘Nestlé in Society: Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2012’.

The time-bound targets reflect Nestlé’s ambitions to work collectively with other stakeholders to help address the global food and water crisis, and the specific nutritional challenges posed by malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies.

Click here for the full story.

Nestlé has published its 2012 Annual Report (pdf, 6 Mb), outlining the company’s performance last year and its future ambitions.

The full Annual Report pack also contains the company's 2012 Financial Statements, 2012 Corporate Governance report and the 2012 Nestlé in society: Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments report (pdf, 3 Mb).

Nestlé Model​

“The environment in 2013 looks to be every bit as challenging as it was in 2012,” said Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, and Nestlé Chief Executive Officer Paul Bulcke in a joint letter to shareholders.

“But 2013 will again provide opportunities to leverage our competitive advantages, to deliver on our growth opportunities and benefit from our continuous drive for improvement across the group.

“We expect to deliver the Nestlé Model once again of organic growth between 5-6%, as well as an improved margin and underlying earnings per share in constant currencies.”

Click here for the full story.

Nestlé Health Science today announced the acquisition of a minority stake in Vital Foods, a New Zealand based company that specialises in the development of kiwifruit-based solutions for gastrointestinal conditions. The terms of the transaction are not being disclosed. This follows the acquisitions made in the last 12 months of Vitaflo, CM&D Pharma and Prometheus Laboratories.

Created in 1991, Vital Foods has two well-established products on the market in New Zealand, Kiwi Crush^TM and Phloe^TM. Both products are based on a natural kiwifruit extract, and have been clinically shown to be effective against constipation. Constipation is a common functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, affecting around 1 in 6 people in the general adult population in Oceania, Europe and the US.

The transaction gives Nestlé Health Science a seat on the Board of Vital Foods, providing the opportunity to help steer future product development as well as commercial strategy. Inventages, which manages Nestlé Venture Funds, has been an investor in Vital Foods for a number of years.

Click here for the full story.