Nestlé

Nestlé   (Multinational corporation, Big Food)
Headquarters	Switzerland
Member of	Transatlantic Policy Network, WEF/Strategic Partners
Sponsor of	Rive-Reine-Conference
Membership	•  Peter Brabeck-Letmathe •  Paul Bulcke •  Mark Schneider •  Henri de Castries •  Renato Fassbind •  Pablo Isla •  Ann M. Veneman •  Eva Cheng •  Patrick Aebischer •  Ursula M. Burns •  Kasper Rorsted •  Kimberly A. Ross •  Dick Boer •  Dinesh Paliwal •  Hanne Jimenez de Mora •  David Frick •  Paul Jolles
Swiss Big Food multinational

Nestlé is a Swiss multinational corporation and the world's largest processed food company. The company manufactures and markets processed food and has diversified holdings in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, medical equipment, pet food and weight loss industries.

The Baby Killer

As the world's largest artificial baby milk producer, Nestlé has been pinpointed as a leading cause of the increasing worldwide infant mortality rates. In 1974, Nestlé's sales habits were exposed in a report titled The Baby Killer by Mike Muller. The report explained how multinational milk companies like Nestlé were causing infant illness and death in poor communities by promoting bottle feeding and discouraging breast feeding. The report also launched a long-running global campaign, which received wide-spread support from medical professionals, health authorities and civil society in developing countries. A seven-year boycott of its products ended after Nestlé agreed to change its marketing practices in compliance with World Health Organization bylaws on infant formula. The company began to revert almost immediately.

As of 2006, the WHO estimates that 1.5 million infants die each year because of inappropriate feeding, given the fact that children vulnerable to disease are being fed with artificial breastmilk substitutes rather than naturally breastfed.

A World Health Organization (WHO) International Code governing the marketing of artificial baby milk, drawn up in 1981 and agreed by 118 countries, says breastfeeding should be promoted above all other products and that leaflets and labels relating to breast milk substitutes should do nothing to undermine this. But Nestlé and other companies have been accused of flouting the rules with advertising, free samples, promotions and sponsorships. The latest monitoring report from the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) uncovered about 2,000 violations of the code in 69 countries, with Nestlé responsible for more violations than any other of the big 16 baby food companies studied"

"Never be healthy no matter how much they’re tweaked"

More than 60 percent of the food and beverages sold by the company did not meet the "recognized definition of healthy," according to an internal presentation that was circulated among executives. The memo concluded some Nestlé products "will never be healthy no matter how much they’re tweaked".

Water not a human right

In 2005, Nestlé CEO and Bilderberger Peter Brabeck-Letmathe characterized the view that human beings have a right to water as extreme:

“Water is, of course, the most important raw material we have today in the world. It’s a question of whether we should privatize the normal water supply for the population. And there are two different opinions on the matter. The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution. The other view says that water is a foodstuff like any other, and like any other foodstuff it should have a market value. Personally, I believe it’s better to give a foodstuff a value so that we’re all aware it has its price, and then that one should take specific measures for the part of the population that has no access to this water, and there are many different possibilities there.”
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe

Nestlé is a key player in the takeover of groundwater around the world. "From Michigan to drought-stricken California, to Canada, to Germany, and beyond, the Nestlé corporation is a key player in a worldwide effort to privatize our finite water resources, and then sell it back to us in plastic bottles".

Fly larvae pet food

In August 2023, Nestlé Purina launched a pet food based on "alternative proteins", including insect processed protein from black soldier fly larvae.

Nestlé has ownership parts of several veterinary clinic chains including Independent Vetcare Group International (IVC Evidensia), which operates 1,123 clinics across 10 countries, including Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland and Sweden.

Nestlé employees threatened with death by paramilitaries

In 2012, union organizers in Colombia were listed as "targets to exterminate" by paramilitary death squads.

War contracts

The outbreak of World War I led to rich government contracts for condensed milk and chocolate. By the end of the war, Nestlé had 40 factories around the globe.

During World War 2 Nestlé supplied both sides of the conflict. It won a lucrative contract to supply the entire German army with chocolate, and employed thousands of slave labourers and prisoners of war in its German factories. In 2000, Nestlé paid Swiss francs ($14.6m) into a settlement with Jewish organizations to meet possible claims over use of slave labor during the war.

Price fixing

In 2007, 'Canada confirmed an investigation into price-fixing in the chocolate industry, after evidence supplied by a whistleblower suggested the companies had "conspired, agreed or arranged to fix prices of chocolate products". Nestlé Canada later settled a class-action lawsuit for $9 million without admitting guilt.

Nestle, Mars and five other companies faced a price-fixing probe in Germany in 2008, after almost simultaneous sharp price increases of up to 25 per cent for chocolate and confectionery. In 2013, Nestle was fined, along with 10 other chocolate and confectionery companies, a total of 60 million euros ($83 million) for colluding to raise chocolate prices in Germany.

In 2023, Turkey investigated Nestlé and Danone and two other companies for violating competition laws on sharing pricing information. Nestlé was also being investigated in a separate case under the accusation the company set prices, and also imposed unspecified restrictions for "distributors".

Spy hired to infiltrate NGO

The Swiss chapter of anti-globalization NGO Attac asked local authorities to investigate Nestlé for allegedly hiring a spy to infiltrate the group. The legal complaint was filed after learning that an employee of the Securitas AG security company took part in its private meetings between late 2003 and June 2004. "The meetings were part of a research project that culminated in the publication of a book titled "Attac against the Nestle Empire," which criticized the company's position on genetically modified organisms, water privatization and trade unions.

Rive-Reine-Conference

Full article: Rive-Reine-Conference

Nestlé is a key organizer of the Rive-Reine-Conference, a yearly secretive conference designed to keep politicians under control.

 

Employee on Wikispooks

Employee	Job	Appointed	End	Description
Pierre Liotard-Vogt	President	1973	1982	Attended the 1970, 1974, 1977 and 1980 Bilderberg conferences

 

Known members

4 of the 17 of the members already have pages here:

Member	Description
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe	Nestlé executive who attended the 2011 Bilderberg. Wants to privatize and charge for all water in the world.
Henri de Castries	"French President of Bilderberg"
Pablo Isla	Chairman and CEO of Inditex (Zara) the largest clothes corporation in the world.
Paul Jolles	Quad Bilderberger Swiss diplomat businessman

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.