Response from Nestle to PHDinParenting – Part 1

–>see my experience at the Happy, Healthy Gathering at Nestle USA event

–>see “Response from Nestle to PHDinParenting” – Part 2 & Part 3

Annie’s (from phdinparenting.com) questions are in bold.

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October 6, 2009

Dear Annie,

Thank you for questions.  We’ve shared them with various experts throughout the company. So if there is a perceived delay, it is only because we are trying to ensure that the right people provide the best possible information. Thank you for your patience. In order to share information with you and your readers as quickly as possible, we thought we’d provide the responses as we receive them.  The responses below are in regards to your questions about cocoa farming and about Stouffer’s. The response to the Stouffer’s question is provided by Roz O’Hearn who works with that brand.

Sincerely,

Edie Burge

What concrete steps (not pledges signed, groups joined, but action) is Nestle taking to ensure its cocoa is from sources that do not use underage, indentured, trafficked or coerced labor? Could Nestle currently put a Fair Trade or even a 100% Slave-Free label on its chocolate?

Nestle, in partnership with the chocolate industry as a whole, has been working to address labor issues on cocoa farms for several years and is committed to finding lasting solutions. While Nestle does not own cocoa farms anywhere in the world, we believe cocoa should be grown responsibly. That is why Nestle has actively participated in the chocolate industry’s efforts to address the issue through steps outlined in the Harkin-Engel Protocol, and is a founding participant of the International Cocoa Initiative and a member of the World Cocoa Foundation. To your point about action, these efforts are action-based, and go well beyond the signing of a pledge. These partnerships are supporting sustainable cocoa farming efforts – and achieving results that have made an increasing, positive impact on farm families in the world’s cocoa regions. For example, check out http://www.cocoainitiative.org to learn about the results of the pilot projects in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.  You also can find detailed information at http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org.

Regarding your labeling question, we do not intend to make any changes to our labels at this time.

You told the bloggers that Stouffer’s meals contain no preservatives and they tweeted about it. I assume they misheard you, since most of the Stouffer’s meals seem to have a sodium content of between 25% and 40% of the daily recommended allowance for an adult in one serving. If my 2.5 year old were to have one serving of your Family Vegetable Lasagna, she would be getting 100% of her recommended daily sodium intake from that one piece of lasagna. Salt/sodium is a well-known preservative. Please explain (a) why  you would characterize Stouffer’s as preservative free and (b) why you feel it is appropriate to market foods with dangerously high sodium levels to families.

It’s evident that you are a concerned mother and you’re seeking more information to aid you in making good choices for your family.  We appreciate your concern so referred your specific questions about our Stouffer’s brand to our team in Solon, Ohio which includes microbiologists, RDs and nutritionists.  The technical team reviewed your questions and provided the answers below. Hope this is helpful information to you, Roz O’Hearn

Yes, we told our Nestle Family blogger guests that our Stouffer’s meals contain NO preservatives–because this is true.  Freezing is a natural method of preservation so we don’t need to include preservative ingredients.  Regarding sodium, only when it is present in concentrations high enough to lower available water-to-bacteria-to-water activities to below 0.85 is it considered a preservative.  If sodium were used as preservative in our Stouffer’s recipes, it would need to present at much higher levels–which is not necessary.  Our product development teams, who are trained in both food science and the culinary arts, use sodium for flavor and seasoning –which is an important feature of our Stouffer’s recipes.

As you know, nutrition and ingredient information is readily available on the back of every Stouffer’s package.  One additional point: You may also read that we worked to remove TFAs from our products.  Today, there remain only a few Stouffer’s varieties that still declare TFAs on the label; we think it’s important to note that those TFAs are naturally occurring from either the beef or dairy ingredients in those recipes.

Regarding your specific query about your 2.5 year old and Stouffer’s Vegetable Lasagna, our nutritionists reviewed and offer this information: Toddlers 1 – 3 years of age should consume about 1000 – 1500 calories per day; the recommended sodium level is 1500mg per day. The guideline for appropriate serving size is 1/4 of an adult portion per year of age. So a two year old should consume 1/2 of an adult portion. Our family size meals range in sodium from 25 – 40% of DV for adults.  A toddler eating a toddler-size portion would consume less sodium. The serving size for our Party size vegetable lasagna is 8 ounces which provides 40% of DV for sodium for an adult.  Therefore, a 2 year old would consume, at most, a 4 oz serving which would provide 32% of their DV for sodium.

This information comes from the USDA Food Guide and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, which are the most current guidelines.

We appreciate your interest in our products and hope you will visit our website often for the latest information on our products and promotions.

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