Indian parents are growing wary of Nestle’s Cerelac baby cereals amid the sugar boom

Kirti Srivastava is unsure whether to continue feeding her 10-month-old baby boy formula made by Nestle India Ltd. after it came to light that the company’s products sold in the country were high in sugar.

The Noida-based dentist is conflicted. Her pediatrician says packaged baby food can meet her toddler’s nutritional needs. “I feed my child with Nestlé Cerelac, par agar aisa hai to koi bhi apne bachche ko kyun hi baahar ka Cerelac dega (if that is the case, why would anyone feed his child ready-made baby food),” she told NDTV Profit. “Sugar isn’t healthy for children, is it?”

Her fears are not unfounded. A week ago, Public Eye, a Swiss research organization, and International Baby Food Action Network published a report showing that Nestlé’s Cerelac – a milk cereal-based complementary food for infants – contains an average of 3 grams of added sugar per serving in India. The report also claimed that this is not the case in Western markets such as the US and Europe.

This raises concerns about compliance with health standards. World Health Organization guidelines prohibit added sugars in baby food. Artificial sugar can also lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay and even cardiovascular disease in children.

As a result, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India will collect Cerelac samples for testing. “We are collecting samples (of Nestle’s Cerelac baby cereal) from across the country. It will take 15 to 20 days to complete the process,” FSSAI CEO G Kamala Vardhana Rao told PTI.

Nestle India had not responded to queries from NDTV Profit at the time of publication.

The controversy has also led to Zainab Sheikh, a housewife and mother from Mumbai, to stop buying Cerelac for her child. “I have always preferred Cerelac for my child,” she says. “But after hearing the news, I won’t buy packaged Cerelac at all.”

The Kit Kat chocolate maker’s profit for Maggi instant noodles rose 27% to Rs 934 crore in the three months through March.

The manager of a D-Mart supermarket in Mumbai’s Andheri said the controversy has not affected Cerelac sales, even as he declined to share specific figures. Also several other stores NDTV Profit spoke to in Andheri, Mumbai said the sale of Cerelac had no significant impact.

Still, Mumbai-based Sania Ansari wants to raise awareness about this product within her family. “I don’t have a child, but there are children in my family,” she said. “After the Nestle news, we had discussions about whether we should give Nestle food to my young nephew. The news is worrying.”

Others resort to age-old recipes.

Sonakshi Saxena, mother of a 10-month-old girl, said she has always resorted to home-cooked baby food for her child. “I dry and roast some legumes and rice and blend it into a fine powder. I keep this powder and use it whenever I need to feed my daughter.”

“All these baby food products contain some amount of added sugar, and also preservatives that can be harmful to the child, so it is better to give homemade food,” Saxena said.

Srivastava also questioned the functioning of the food regulator. “These products have been sold for so long. Who will take care of this, someone will have to take care of it, right?” she asked. This comes even as leading Indian spice blend companies, including Everest and MDH, faced bans in Hong Kong and Singapore due to the high levels of pesticides in them.