Nestle announced the launch of three new milk products for children on Tuesday, as the Health Ministry works on a draft law prohibiting advertisements of milk products for children under age 2.
The three products, distributed under the Nestle Bear Brand, are aimed at children ages 1 to 3, 3 to 6, and 6 and older.
Marketing tactics for children’s milk products have come under attack in recent years after officials discovered that milk product companies such as Nestle, Dumex and France Bebe distributed free samples in maternity wards to get new mothers to use their products.
The practice has stopped in Phnom Penh but continues in Siem Reap and other provinces, officials said.
“The new Nestle Bear Brand advanced nutrition system has been successfully tested and already adopted by thousands of mothers for their children around the world,” Bertrand Sigwalt, general manager of Nestle (Cambodia) Ltd, said to a room filled with reporters, balloons and television cameras at the company’s Phnom Penh office.
“Now, this new advanced system will benefit Khmer children from the age of 1 to 6 to answer their specific needs,” Sigwalt said.
“We would like to remind that mother’s milk is the ideal food for babies,” he added. In tiny print on each new products’ box, Nestle says breast milk is best for babies.
The Health Ministry recommends that children be breast-fed until age 2. Studies show that breast-feeding gives children the proper nutrients to grow and prevents malnutrition.
“There is no justification for milk products advertising that they provide better nutritional value than breast milk,” said Nyunt Nyunt Yi, UN Children’s Fund program officer for health and nutrition. She said that the brain nearly grows to full size by age 2.
The Health Ministry is drafting a breast-milk substitute code, based on international standards, that would prohibit advertising of milk products for children under age 2. Under the code, which officials expect to be law in two or three years, Nestle would not be able to advertise the new milk product for 1-year-olds.
Nestle is blitzing the city with a door-to-door campaign that draws hundreds each day into its Nestle Center, where residents are treated to games, videos, live stage shows and free samples.
The milk-product company also drove an advertising bus to
105 provincial locations, reaching an estimated 400,000 possible consumers.
Kong Chanda, who is six months’ pregnant and the mother of an 18-month-old child, attended a Nestle product demonstration after receiving a personally delivered invitation.
“They told me to test their baby milk product,” she said. “They made an interesting presentation, but I still believe a mother’s breast milk is the best for the baby.”
Low education levels have resulted in mothers thinking that milk products are better than breast milk, said Koum Kanal, director of the National Maternal and Child Center.
“I don’t support any advertising that says milk products are good for the baby’s health,” he said. “It makes people confused between milk products and breast milk. I would say that a pair of mother’s breasts are enough to feed her baby.”
