This Sunday, Ferrero is launching the new Nutella campaign, its flagship product. The Italian company wishes to emphasize the “quality” of the spread, by insisting in particular on the traceability of the ingredients. The National Safety and Health Agency (Anses) does not share his point of view.
“We intend to keep a strong position on the French market and continue to develop” Nutella while “the favorite brand of the French has been very criticized in recent years” explained Jean-Baptiste Santoul, general manager of Ferrero France during the visit in January. last of the Villers-Ecalles site, the world’s leading production site for Nutella, near Rouen.
This campaign comes against a backdrop of a slight drop in sales over the past five years, as admitted by Christophe Bordin, director of external relations for Ferrero France, interviewed by AFP. Ferrero’s turnover still amounted to 10.33 billion euros in 2016. Nutella represents a third of the volumes produced by the brand.
56.3% sugar, 30.9% fat
The family business maintains the presence of palm oil in the spread. She buys 185,000 tons of it a year in the world but which she describes as “certified sustainable”. For ANSES, the product is “catastrophic” nutritionally. Palm oil is “no nutritional value” and contains saturated fatty acids which “in excess can promote cardiovascular disease”.
Another problem, the famous delicacy is composed of 56.3 sugar and 30.9% fat. “This type of product is a calorie bomb with, unlike jam or butter, almost zero nutritional interest. For sugar, it’s a disaster. It cannot be seen. If you put the same amount of sugar in your coffee, you would be scared,” Professor Irène Margaritis, head of ANSES’s nutrition risk assessment, told AFP.
ANSES would like measures to limit the incentive to consume sugary products in a society where excessive consumption of fat and sugar is a problem. “It’s not worth inciting people, anyway, they love it. There should be information campaigns aimed at giving these products their rightful place, occasional”, sums up Irene Margaritis.
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