4 ms·

> During the war, Nestlé companies supplied both the Axis and the Allies. In 2000, the company agreed to pay millions of dollars to settle claims that a German

> During the war, Nestlé companies supplied both the Axis and the Allies. In 2000, the company agreed to pay millions of dollars to settle claims that a German company they purchased used forced labor during the war. The sole blemish on Nestlé's otherwise impeccable record. /s

bell-cot 2y ago
Does anyone know the real backstory here? I'm thinking that Nestlé HQ (presumably in Switzerland) might have had rather limited control over (or even visibility into) their on-paper subsidiaries in Nazi-controlled countries.
- aspenmayer 2y ago
  See Maggi on this list which is now owned by Nestlé: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_the_Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_... Nestlé also participated directly: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/news/new-studies-detail-swiss-ties-with-hitlers-germany.html https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/news/new-studies-detail-s... https://archive.is/4ZLSN https://archive.is/4ZLSN > Nestle and the former Brown Boveri & Co., now called ABB, earlier admitted slave labor had been used at their German sites and have paid compensation. Novartis, Nestle and Roche contributed to the $1.25 billion settlement in 1998 that banks organized to settle the Holocaust account claims.
  - bell-cot 2y ago
    Looking here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggi#World_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggi#World_Wars - it sounds like Maggi wasn't acquired by Nestlé until 1947. Details unclear - but that may have been a case of "spoils of war, sold at auction". If so, then blaming Nestlé for Maggi's prior misdeeds sounds pretty dubious. From the NYT article, I'd say Nestlé itself has at least some dirt on their hands. OTOH, that article makes no mention whatever of Switzerland's location - landlocked and totally surrounded by the seemed-to-be-winning Axis powers for almost all of WWII. Considering how <cough/> nicely the Axis occupation forces were treating most of the countries which they'd already conquered - the Swiss might have felt that making much of a fuss (over Axis misdeeds) could result their own conquest and occupation.
    - aspenmayer 2y ago
      I don't disagree with anything you've said. That said, I parsed this part > > During the war, Nestlé companies as referring to companies that are now, or were at the time of WW2, part of Nestlé. I thought that was clear from context when I said > See Maggi on this list which is now owned by Nestlé which has the operative word now. (Emphasis added.) Contrast that with how I followed up: > Nestlé also participated directly Emphasis added to indicate that Nestlé also was directly involved at the time, to differentiate from actions taken by a different independent company during WW2 that has since been acquired by Nestlé. From how you have responded, you seem to believe that we disagree. I am simply clarifying that I was perhaps unclear in my phrasing, but that we are in alignment here. As for the NYT article, I wanted to find more context but was mostly seeking to find a suitable citation for the claims made by another poster, which I think I have done. I think that given other actions performed by Nestlé speak to the kind of corporation it has historically been in more recent times in foreign countries is no less problematic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Nestl%C3%A9_boycott https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Nestl%C3%A9_boycott https://voxdev.org/topic/health/deadly-toll-marketing-infant-formula-low-and-middle-income-countries https://voxdev.org/topic/health/deadly-toll-marketing-infant... https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-06-13/baby-formula-companies-targeted-low-income-moms-in-peru https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-06-... These practices are especially problematic due to the nature of breastfeeding - by marketing directly to mothers who are about to give birth or just have given birth using bad nutritional claims not supported by science, they rob mothers of crucial nutrients as well as introducing pathogens due to poor sanitation, while actively lowering incidences of breastfeeding from 90% pre-advertising to 10% post-advertising in in Chile, for example. By the time mothers are able to become better informed, their milk will likely have dried up, and so they are now locked into buying formula that is likely unsafe to use in many cases due to poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water. Don't worry though, Nestlé also promotes and sells bottled water, so they can sell you a solution for the problems their own products not fit for market create. The numbers are pretty grim. I mean, they have a whole article just about their horrible track record: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_of_Nestl%C3%A9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_of_Nestl%C3%A9 I think it's probably as bad as you say, and likely worse. If they were really worried about Axis occupation, you would think they would stop selling to the Allies. That they continued to sell to both sides seems to me to be an example of how Nestlé puts profits over law and over human life itself.

bell-cot 2y ago

Does anyone know the real backstory here? I'm thinking that Nestlé HQ (presumably in Switzerland) might have had rather limited control over (or even visibility into) their on-paper subsidiaries in Nazi-controlled countries.

aspenmayer 2y ago
See Maggi on this list which is now owned by Nestlé: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_the_Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_... Nestlé also participated directly: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/news/new-studies-detail-swiss-ties-with-hitlers-germany.html https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/news/new-studies-detail-s... https://archive.is/4ZLSN https://archive.is/4ZLSN > Nestle and the former Brown Boveri & Co., now called ABB, earlier admitted slave labor had been used at their German sites and have paid compensation. Novartis, Nestle and Roche contributed to the $1.25 billion settlement in 1998 that banks organized to settle the Holocaust account claims.
- bell-cot 2y ago
  Looking here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggi#World_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggi#World_Wars - it sounds like Maggi wasn't acquired by Nestlé until 1947. Details unclear - but that may have been a case of "spoils of war, sold at auction". If so, then blaming Nestlé for Maggi's prior misdeeds sounds pretty dubious. From the NYT article, I'd say Nestlé itself has at least some dirt on their hands. OTOH, that article makes no mention whatever of Switzerland's location - landlocked and totally surrounded by the seemed-to-be-winning Axis powers for almost all of WWII. Considering how <cough/> nicely the Axis occupation forces were treating most of the countries which they'd already conquered - the Swiss might have felt that making much of a fuss (over Axis misdeeds) could result their own conquest and occupation.
  - aspenmayer 2y ago
    I don't disagree with anything you've said. That said, I parsed this part > > During the war, Nestlé companies as referring to companies that are now, or were at the time of WW2, part of Nestlé. I thought that was clear from context when I said > See Maggi on this list which is now owned by Nestlé which has the operative word now. (Emphasis added.) Contrast that with how I followed up: > Nestlé also participated directly Emphasis added to indicate that Nestlé also was directly involved at the time, to differentiate from actions taken by a different independent company during WW2 that has since been acquired by Nestlé. From how you have responded, you seem to believe that we disagree. I am simply clarifying that I was perhaps unclear in my phrasing, but that we are in alignment here. As for the NYT article, I wanted to find more context but was mostly seeking to find a suitable citation for the claims made by another poster, which I think I have done. I think that given other actions performed by Nestlé speak to the kind of corporation it has historically been in more recent times in foreign countries is no less problematic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Nestl%C3%A9_boycott https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Nestl%C3%A9_boycott https://voxdev.org/topic/health/deadly-toll-marketing-infant-formula-low-and-middle-income-countries https://voxdev.org/topic/health/deadly-toll-marketing-infant... https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-06-13/baby-formula-companies-targeted-low-income-moms-in-peru https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-06-... These practices are especially problematic due to the nature of breastfeeding - by marketing directly to mothers who are about to give birth or just have given birth using bad nutritional claims not supported by science, they rob mothers of crucial nutrients as well as introducing pathogens due to poor sanitation, while actively lowering incidences of breastfeeding from 90% pre-advertising to 10% post-advertising in in Chile, for example. By the time mothers are able to become better informed, their milk will likely have dried up, and so they are now locked into buying formula that is likely unsafe to use in many cases due to poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water. Don't worry though, Nestlé also promotes and sells bottled water, so they can sell you a solution for the problems their own products not fit for market create. The numbers are pretty grim. I mean, they have a whole article just about their horrible track record: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_of_Nestl%C3%A9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_of_Nestl%C3%A9 I think it's probably as bad as you say, and likely worse. If they were really worried about Axis occupation, you would think they would stop selling to the Allies. That they continued to sell to both sides seems to me to be an example of how Nestlé puts profits over law and over human life itself.