Swiss multinational Nestle says it will stop buying milk from a farm owned by the wife of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.
(BBC, 2009, October 2, par.1)
Nestle said it had bought milk from farms including Grace Mugabe's Gushungo Dairy Estate to help the country as its dairy industry neared collapse. The move comes after human rights activists had called for a boycott of Nestle products.
(BBC, 2009, October 2, par.2-3)
[more details at the link....]
[IMAGE: javno.com]Swiss multinational Nestle says it will stop buying milk from a farm owned by the wife... more
That's right, reports the Sacramento News & Review, - Nestle Waters North America has pulled out of its bid to get water from McCloud, near Mt. Shasta and instead is setting up shop in Sacramento. We reported just this year that this area is the #1 most threatened river basin, so why would a water bottling company come here of all places? Is there anything you can do? Click through the jump to find out more.
If you've seen FLOW or any of the other recent documentaries about water rights, you know that one of the (many) problems with bottled water is that local communities are sold on the idea of having cheaper water rates through privatized water and instead end up oftentimes without water. While this program does not include privatizing water, it does give water right to a company, when the rest of the community is under tight water restrictions. Communities looking to fight off big water are in for a serious battle, though recently Flagstaff, AZ gave Nestle Waters the boot, which would essentially do the same thing the company is proposing in Sacramento.
The plan by Nestle Waters North America would allow for the construction of a new bottling facility (to be opened by January 2010 in South Sacramento) plus an estimated usage of 30 million gallons of city water each year. An additional 20 million gallons would be trucked in from "private springs" with no word on where these springs are located. Bottling 50 million gallons of water equals an additional 800 million new plastic water bottles being introduced into the environment.Some city utility departments estimate that it could be much higher - say 78 to 116 million gallons of water each year. In addition, Nestle would be purchasing water at cheap, industrial rates (roughly $1 for every 750 gallons) and then selling the water back at much higher rates per bottle.That's right, reports the Sacramento News & Review, - Nestle Waters North America has... more
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace have helped themselves to five or six of the most valuable of the hundreds of white farms his government has taken over.
Mugabe, his wife Grace and a number of other Zanu-PF insiders are subject to sanctions by the European Union (EU), the US and other Western countries.
Mrs Mugabe became a regular visitor
Grace has taken at least six farms from white farmers and established a state-of-the-art dairy that sells up to a million litres of milk a year to Nestle.
Nestle is not covered by American or EU sanctions rules, but it has spent years protecting its reputation amid other scandals, particularly allegations over the improper promotion of formula milk to nursing mothers in the Third World, which it denies but which have led to consumer boycotts in the West.
American and European officials say that if Nestle were subject to their rules, it would be committing a criminal offence by trading with Mugabe.
Boycott Nestle?Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace have helped themselves to five... more
San Francisco, Calif.—Food & Water Watch and the McCloud Watershed Council achieved a major victory today when Nestle Waters of North America announced it would withdraw its proposal to build a bottling facility in McCloud, Calif. The news came after 6 years of intense public debate regarding the plant and its potential impact on water resources in the area. At one point the deal would have allowed Nestle to pump up to 200 million gallons of water from nearby Mt. Shasta springs- enough water for 614 typical U.S. families.
This latest development is one is an escalating trend against allowing private corporations to bottle public water. In July, 2009, the grassroots group Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation successfully sued Nestle to limit the amount of water the company could withdraw for one a bottling facility in Mecosta County. Less than a month later, the City of Flagstaff, Ariz. denied Nestle a contract to bottle water from local resources there. Proposed bottling operations in Maine, Oregon, Colorado and Wisconsin are also drawing public scrutiny.
“This decision to withdraw the contract for a new water bottling facility is a major setback for Nestle, which has been eyeing water in McCloud for many years,” said Mark Schlosberg, western states director of Food & Water Watch. “It reflects the strength of community opposition towards Nestle’s plans to take local water and highlights a growing consumer understanding that bottled water is expensive, a waste of natural resources and bad for the environment.”
Declining consumer interest in bottled water is further evidenced by the fact that, for the first time in five years, bottled water sales are on the wane.
“It is important for people to realize that they can make a difference. Nestle’s departure proves that ordinary citizens can successfully protect their community resources and way of life,” said Debra Anderson, president of the McCloud Watershed Council.
Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer organization, works to ensure clean water and safe food in the United States and around the world. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.
For more information, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.San Francisco, Calif.—Food & Water Watch and the McCloud Watershed Council achieved... more
This week, mounting consumer backlash against Nestle became especially apparent when the mega-conglomerate reported that their sales had dipped by 2.4 percent to 5.07 billion Swiss francs ($4.69 billion) from 5.21 billion francs a year earlier. The company’s bottled water division, which packages and sells water under several brands including Arrowhead, Calistoga, Deer Park, Poland Spring, and Perrier, among others, recorded a 3.7 percent decline in volume.
“Around the world, but especially in the United States, consumers are recognizing that bottled water is an unnecessary burden on their wallets, the environment, and the communities from which it is taken and sold at thousands of times its actual value. Nestle in particular, has gained notoriety over the past several years for profiting on a natural resource while dumping the costs of its corporate imperialism onto society in the form of pollution, over-consumption of oil, and unfair labor practices, to name just a few offenses.
“Communities too, are pushing back against Nestle. Just last month, citizens in Michigan prevailed when a court there turned down the corporation’s request to pump more water from an already depleting spring in Mecosta County. Similar struggles have played out in California, Maine, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Colorado as part of a growing trend to reclaim public water resources from private control.
“While news of Nestle’s loss is certainly the gain of consumers and communities, the fight is far from other. Food & Water Watch will continue to support the work of those working to keep Nestle out of their communities, while applauding those consumers who, in rejecting bottled water, are helping to make it obsolete.”
Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer organization based in Washington, D.C., works to ensure clean water and safe food in the United States and around the world. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink. For more information, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.
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Moral of this story: we as consumers can speak with our dollars. Glad to know Nestle is getting the message loud and clear.This week, mounting consumer backlash against Nestle became especially apparent when... more
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday confirmed that it has found E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in a sample of Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough.
The contaminated sample was collected at Nestle's facility in Danville, Va. on Thursday, the FDA said in a statement.
Nestle SA earlier on Monday announced a recall of Toll House refrigerated cookie dough, saying the FDA had found evidence of E. Coli in a production sample of a refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough bar.
----------------------------------------------------------The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday confirmed that it has found E.... more
New reports released Friday indicated that Nestle denied the Food and Drug Administration access to records such as complaint logs and other records several times in the past five years.
Denying access to these types of documents is considered company policy and is allowed under FDA regulations. However, if the FDA feels that public health is at stake, they have the right to override the request to keep records private.
Nestle has said that they are cooperating with the FDA after the recent recall of products suspected to contain E. coli.New reports released Friday indicated that Nestle denied the Food and Drug... more
who is trying to re-ignite the conversation with consumer, corporations, and the goverment about the orgin of food we all are consuming.who is trying to re-ignite the conversation with consumer, corporations, and the... more
Nestle USA says its baking unit has voluntarily recalled Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products after a number or illnesses were reported by those who ate the dough raw.Nestle USA says its baking unit has voluntarily recalled Toll House refrigerated... more
Everyone has their favourite pudding but not everyone knows how to make them! However, help is here in the form of Celebrity Chef Phil Vickery. Phil is here to impart some pudding wisdom and help you create 12 fantastic classics, one pudcast a month. This time please join Phil as he gives step-by-step instructions on how to make a healthy version of the Italian classic – Tiramisu
With one in five Brits having never attempted a home-made pudding, according to research by Carnation, it must be time to join Phil in his kitchen and get cooking!
Why not logon to www.carnation.co.uk where you can look through a variety of Phil’s tasty recipes and download the pudcasts.Everyone has their favourite pudding but not everyone knows how to make them! However,... more
You’ve probably heard of “blood diamonds.” But unfortunately diamonds aren’t the only commodity that is produced with slave labor. Many African cocoa farms produce “blood chocolate,” at the cost of cruel labor practices and child abuse.
Africa, especially its Ivory Coast, is the world’s largest cocoa producer, according to a guest post on Treehugger.com by Ted Dworkin of the Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store. (“The Bitter Truth About Chocolate.”)
According to Dworkin, the US State Department has reported slavery on many of these cocoa farms, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture reported in 2002 that nearly 284,000 children were working under unsafe conditions. Back in the United States chocolate manufacturers often don’t take responsibility for these unsafe working conditions, because they do not own the farms.
But there is growing awareness of this problem, and now many chocolate brands, manufacturers and importers, in addition to consumers, are insisting on slave-free chocolate products. Even the chocolate giant Cadbury announced in March 2009 that they plan to achieve fair trade certification for their top selling chocolate bar, Cadbury Dairy Milk, by the end of this summer.
According to TransFair USA (an independent, third-party certifier of fair trade products in the U.S) fair trade certified is a market-based system for sustainable development. To earn that certification importers and retailers pay a premium price to farmers and farm workers, who then commit to grow and produce goods in accordance with rigorous standards that guarantee worker rights, community empowerment and environmental sustainability.
It’s not hard to find fair trade certified cocoa and chocolate products in your local supermarket, many of which are made here in the Northwest. Dagoba Organic Chocolates and Chocolate Alchemy are two Oregon chocolate manufacturers that offer fair trade chocolate.
Another popular Oregon chocolate merchant, Moonstruck Chocolatier, is not fair trade certified, but the company says on its website that it supports fair trade initiatives and will not use cocoa harvested with slave labor or abusive child labor practices.
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Actually, you should avoid it at all times. I cannot understand how in the 21st century we are allowing this to go on. It is a CRIME how the American people are so ignorant of where what they eat comes from!You’ve probably heard of “blood diamonds.” But unfortunately diamonds aren’t... more
British artist/rockstar Nina Silvert's new music/ performance project Nina Silvert's Milk, with visual media by artist Ramon Salgado-Touzon, uses Milk as a symbol for world inequality, greed and corporate corruption. It makes specific reference to the Nestle African babymilk scandal and the similar recent sales of toxic babymilk formula in China.
Performed at ACT ART 06 - 7th of November 2008. www.ninasilvert.com www.myspace.co.uk/ninasilvertBritish artist/rockstar Nina Silvert's new music/ performance project Nina Silvert's... more
Recall on three varieties of Lean Cuisines: "Lean Cuisine is taking this action after several consumers recalled finding small pieces of blue plastic material."
Ew. I reported on the Hot Pockets recall a few months ago- for the SAME PROBLEM. Both brands are owned by the Nestle company, so there's a fair chance that other products from them have or will have some kind of problem like this. Stay away unless you LIKE plastic flavor!Recall on three varieties of Lean Cuisines: "Lean Cuisine is taking this action after... more
Only one person has reported an injury so far.
May contain "foreign materials"
"The blue plastic has been found in three specific Lean Cuisine dinners -- Cafe Classics Pesto Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta, Spa Cuisine Chicken Mediterranean and Dinnertime Selects Chicken Tuscan. O'Hearn said the company has received seven consumer complaints, "with one report that a consumer bit into it."Only one person has reported an injury so far.
May contain "foreign materials"... more
I vertici del gruppo agroalimentare svizzero si sono spostati in massa, venerdì scorso, a Pechino per presenziare all'inaugurazione del nuovo centro di ricerca in Cina. Nestlé ha investito 7 milioni di euro nella struttura che dovrebbe permettere alla società di scoprire nuove formule più adatte ai gusti cinesi e di rinforzare la qualità dei sui prodotti.I vertici del gruppo agroalimentare svizzero si sono spostati in massa, venerdì... more
Nestle highlighted their dubious adveetising technniques when two ads for Horlicks and Maggi Noodles were accidentally aired in the UK. They had been meant for Bangladeshi TV and claim to make children 'stronger, taller, sharper'.
Tut tut.Nestle highlighted their dubious adveetising technniques when two ads for Horlicks and... more
Residents of Miami-Dade recently heard a public service announcement encouraging them to drink their tap water and reminding them that bottled water doesn't go through the same stringent testing as tap water. It's a good message -- so good that it's got corporate water baron Nestle shooting off geysers.
Nestle wrote to the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WaSD) and told them: CEASE AND DESIST with your advertising campaign. AND promise you'll never do it again.
Nestle just assured us in a public forum they aren't competing with tap water. So why are they hitting a public utility with such strong arm tactics ? Is the consumer backlash against the waste of bottled water draining their $46 billion water revenues? Are the community wins against the bottler's fight to take control of community water making them nervous?
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Seems these companies don't believe in freedom of speech. Residents of Miami-Dade recently heard a public service announcement encouraging them... more
In the radio ad, a talking faucet extols Miami-Dade's tap water as cheaper, purer and safer than bottled water.
It may have sounded innocuous to most listeners, but the 30-second spot left the nation's largest purveyor of bottled water boiling mad.
Nestle Waters North America, which makes nearly $4 billion a year selling Zephyrhills and other brands, is threatening to sue if the county doesn't kill commercials the company brands as false advertising.
''It's an attack on the integrity of the company,'' said Nestle spokesman Jim McClellan. ``It's an attack on the product we produce -- and it's blatantly wrong.''
With the ads ending a five-week run last month and no plans to revive it, the county considers the legal issues moot. But John Renfrow, director of the Water and Sewer Department, defended the county's right to tout its tap water. ''Basically, the message is that our water is fine,'' he said. ``It's wonderful. It's delicious. This is just one of many different spots we've done.''
Environmentalists blasted the threat against the state's largest utility -- believed to be a first -- as a warning shot from an industry worried about slow sales after years of gushing growth.
''Nestle should be ashamed for harassing Miami for promoting its own water,'' said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Washington-based Food & Water Watch. ``This is just outrageous. It's just a way to scare off other utilities.''
McClellan said Nestle -- which contacted The Miami Herald to publicize its complaint -- has never challenged utilities hawking tap water as cheap and safe. But Miami-Dade, he argued, had stepped over the line in besmirching bottled water.In the radio ad, a talking faucet extols Miami-Dade's tap water as cheaper, purer and... more
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- As the number of Chinese infants reported sickened by tainted milk increased to 53,000, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called manufacturers "heartless" and promised stricter laws to protect the public.
China's Health Ministry said Sunday that about 13,000 children were hospitalized, while another 40,000 had undergone outpatient treatment for illnesses related to suspected melamine-tainted milk products.
At least four children have died.
The latest statistics from mainland China come after Hong Kong reported that a 3-year-old girl has been sickened by a suspected melamine-tainted milk product -- the first known illness outside of mainland China.
The Chinese premier visited Beijing hospitals and a supermarket Sunday to show his concern for the crisis.
"What we need to do now is to ensure that nothing like this happens in the future, not only in dairy products, but in all foods," he said. "Manufacturers and owners of dairy companies should show more morality and social responsibility in these cases. They are heartless, so we have to create strict law and legislation. I'm sorry."
Chinese investigators have arrested at least 18 people in connection with the tainted milk case.
Investigators arrested two brothers who sold milk used to produce the contaminated baby milk powder last week. They could face death if convicted, according to China Daily, a state-run newspaper.
The raw milk had been watered down and the chemical added to fool quality checks, the newspaper said. Melamine is commonly used in coatings and laminates, wood adhesives, fabric coatings, ceiling tiles and flame retardants.
Health experts say ingesting melamine can lead to kidney stones, urinary tract ulcers, and eye and skin irritation. It also robs infants of much-needed nutrition.
Thousands of tons of the tainted milk powder have been recalled.
---more at sourceBEIJING, China (CNN) -- As the number of Chinese infants reported sickened by tainted... more
The coffee creamer packaging does state, in English, Lao and Thai, that it is not a substitute for breast milk, and it bears a picture of an infant bottle with a slash across it. The coffee creamer packaging does state, in English, Lao and Thai, that it is not a... more
