For many critics, the group is the epitome of a profitable food industry that takes no account of people, the planet and the climate. A German at the top of the group wants to change that. Really now?
from
Uwe Ritzer
June 3, 2019 has a good chance of appearing in the review of the term of office of the outgoing Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture. Not as a lucky day for Julia Klöckner, but because of a bad PR mishap. On that day, the ministry published a video clip in which the CDU politician appeared with Marc-Aurel Boersch, Nestlé’s head of Germany. While lobbyists of the world’s largest food company behind the scenes at enormous expense prevent a sugar tax, binding reduction targets for fattening foods or mandatory labeling for unhealthy food, the minister celebrated Nestlé in the clip for supporting “our innovation and reduction strategy, less sugar, less salt, less fat”. A storm of ridicule and malice swept over Klöckner. To this day, critics see in the video the submissive surrender of German food policy to the food industry.