Media Statement
18 November 2025
For Immediate release
A new investigation by Swiss NGO Public Eye has exposed how global food giant Nestlé is adding sugar to baby cereals sold in South Africa, while selling sugar-free versions of the same products in Europe. This follows the scandal that broke earlier in the year where it was revealed that Nestle has a pattern of selling sugary baby food in lower-income countries, while reserving healthier product formulation for richer counterparts.
Laboratory tests of Nestlé’s Cerelac range found that 90% of products sold across Africa contain added sugar. In South Africa, 3 in 4 Cerelac products tested included added sugar, averaging 4.9 grams per serving — more than a teaspoon — in products marketed for babies as young as six months. Some variants contained as much as 5.2 grams per serving. Equivalent products in Germany and the United Kingdom contain none.
“This is corporate hypocrisy at its worst,” said Nzama Mbalati CEO for the Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA). “Nestlé knows full well that added sugar harms infants, yet continues to dump sugary products on African babies. It’s a blatant double standard that treats African children’s health as less important.”
The World Health Organization explicitly warns that baby foods should contain no added sugar, as early exposure increases the risk of obesity, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases later in life. South Africa already faces one of the world’s highest childhood obesity rates — a crisis fuelled by aggressive marketing of ultra-processed foods.
“South Africa has experienced a dramatic surge in overweight and obesity in children under five,” says Lori Lake, Communication and Education Specialist at the Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.
Lake adds that rates nearly doubled from 13% in 2016 to 22% in 2022 – with one in four young children now overweight or obese – and this is more than four times higher than the global average.
“So, we need to ask ourselves, if Nestle is really committed to optimal health and nutrition, then why are they continuing to add extra sugar to their infant cereal – and to what extent are they helping to fuel an epidemic of non-communicable disease in South Africa,” she explains.
According to Lake adding sugar to infant cereals acts like a gateway drug, helping establish a lifelong preference for sugary foods that then increases the risk of obesity, diabetes and other NCDs later in life. So, while sugar is sweet – it can leave a bitter aftertaste. She adds that multinational food corporations stand to profit, but it is South Africa’s children and families – and health care system – who will have to carry the costs – which further entrenches inequalities.
Despite acknowledging on its own South African website that high sugar intake poses serious health risks for children, Nestlé continues to promote Cerelac as a “nutritious” and “balanced” product. The company also pays local influencers to endorse Cerelac online, blurring the line between advertising and trusted nutrition advice.
We call on Nestlé South Africa and the National Department of Health to take immediate action: remove added sugar from all baby and toddler foods; enforce strong, mandatory front-of-package warning labels; and introduce strict regulations to stop misleading marketing practices targeting parents and caregivers.
Ends.
For media enquiries please contact:
Lori Lake: Communication and Education Specialist at the Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.
lori.lake@uct.ac.za | 0825580446
Dorothy Breslin: Senior Communications Organiser at Groundwork
dorothy@groundwork.org.za | 0823193741
Zukiswa Zimela Communications Manager at HEALA
zukiswa@heala.org | 0745210652
