History of Nestlé’s
In the mid-1860s Henri Nestlé, a pharmacist, led efforts to find a healthy alternative to breast milk. He hoped to reduce mortality among infants who could not be breast-fed. Nestlé developed an infant cereal that combined cow’s milk, wheat flour, and sugar and in 1867 tested it on a sick, premature baby boy who had refused his mother’s milk.
The baby accepted the formula and recovered. Later that year Nestlé formed his own company, Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, in Vevey, to manufacture the infant formula, called Farine Lactée Nestlé.Only a year earlier, in 1866, Americans Charles and George Page had founded the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Cham, Switzerland, to sell canned milk in Europe.
It expanded in the mid-1870s to include infant formulas, entering into direct competition with Nestlé’s company. In 1875 Nestlé sold his company to three local business executives.
The company began selling chocolate in 1904 when it acquired the Swiss General Chocolate Company. In 1905 Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé merged with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company to become the Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Milk Company.
Increased demand for dairy products during World War I (1914-1918) led the company to expand rapidly overseas. By the war’s end Nestle had 40 factories worldwide, and its production had more than doubled since 1914. In the 1920s the company introduced a stream of new products: malted milk, Milo powdered drink, and powdered buttermilk for infants.
In 1929 Nestlé acquired chocolate company Peter, Cailler, Kohler Chocolats Suisses S.A., whose founder, Daniel Peter, invented milk chocolate in 1875. In 1938 Nestlé introduced Nescafé, a powdered instant coffee. A staple for Allied soldiers during World War II (1939-1945), Nescafé changed coffee-drinking habits worldwide and fueled Nestlé’s expansion in the postwar era.
In 1947 Nestlé merged with Alimentana S.A., the manufacturer of Maggi seasonings and soups, becoming Nestlé Alimentana Company. In the following decades Nestle acquired numerous companies, including Crosse & Blackwell, a British manufacturer of preserves and canned foods; Findus, a maker of frozen foods; Libby, McNeill & Libby, a maker of frozen and canned foods; frozen food manufacturer Stouffer Corporation; mineral water company Source Perrier; and American food giant Carnation, which made milk, pet foods, and other products. The company changed its name to Nestlé S.A. in 1977.
In 1977 international activist groups launched a boycott against Nestlé for its methods of marketing infant formula in developing countries, alleging that it distributed free samples in maternity hospitals and that its promotional materials failed to recognize breast-feeding as the best form of infant nutrition. Health officials asserted that poor and uneducated women using the formula often mixed it with contaminated water, leading to diarrhea, malnutrition, and death of the infant.
The boycott was lifted in 1984 after Nestlé agreed to comply with infant formula marketing codes established by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, calls for boycotts resurfaced in the 1990s amid charges from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other groups that Nestlé continued to violate the WHO codes in some countries
In the mid-1860s Henri Nestlé, a pharmacist, led efforts to find a healthy alternative to breast milk. He hoped to reduce mortality among infants who could not be breast-fed. Nestlé developed an infant cereal that combined cow’s milk, wheat flour, and sugar and in 1867 tested it on a sick, premature baby boy who had refused his mother’s milk.
The baby accepted the formula and recovered. Later that year Nestlé formed his own company, Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, in Vevey, to manufacture the infant formula, called Farine Lactée Nestlé.Only a year earlier, in 1866, Americans Charles and George Page had founded the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Cham, Switzerland, to sell canned milk in Europe.
It expanded in the mid-1870s to include infant formulas, entering into direct competition with Nestlé’s company. In 1875 Nestlé sold his company to three local business executives.
The company began selling chocolate in 1904 when it acquired the Swiss General Chocolate Company. In 1905 Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé merged with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company to become the Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Milk Company.
Increased demand for dairy products during World War I (1914-1918) led the company to expand rapidly overseas. By the war’s end Nestle had 40 factories worldwide, and its production had more than doubled since 1914. In the 1920s the company introduced a stream of new products: malted milk, Milo powdered drink, and powdered buttermilk for infants.
In 1929 Nestlé acquired chocolate company Peter, Cailler, Kohler Chocolats Suisses S.A., whose founder, Daniel Peter, invented milk chocolate in 1875. In 1938 Nestlé introduced Nescafé, a powdered instant coffee. A staple for Allied soldiers during World War II (1939-1945), Nescafé changed coffee-drinking habits worldwide and fueled Nestlé’s expansion in the postwar era.
In 1947 Nestlé merged with Alimentana S.A., the manufacturer of Maggi seasonings and soups, becoming Nestlé Alimentana Company. In the following decades Nestle acquired numerous companies, including Crosse & Blackwell, a British manufacturer of preserves and canned foods; Findus, a maker of frozen foods; Libby, McNeill & Libby, a maker of frozen and canned foods; frozen food manufacturer Stouffer Corporation; mineral water company Source Perrier; and American food giant Carnation, which made milk, pet foods, and other products. The company changed its name to Nestlé S.A. in 1977.
In 1977 international activist groups launched a boycott against Nestlé for its methods of marketing infant formula in developing countries, alleging that it distributed free samples in maternity hospitals and that its promotional materials failed to recognize breast-feeding as the best form of infant nutrition. Health officials asserted that poor and uneducated women using the formula often mixed it with contaminated water, leading to diarrhea, malnutrition, and death of the infant.
The boycott was lifted in 1984 after Nestlé agreed to comply with infant formula marketing codes established by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, calls for boycotts resurfaced in the 1990s amid charges from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other groups that Nestlé continued to violate the WHO codes in some countries