Chile: Government takes step to end Nestlé ‘quasi-monopoly’

The Chilean government has called for an end to the “quasi-monopoly” found in the pureed and chopped baby food market, which was detected by the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office and that – due to a regulation over 20 years old – has left 95% of the sector in the hands of multinational food giant Nestle.

The regulations – Article 502 of the Food Sanitary Regulation – establish nutritional requirements that are considered outdated, seeing as they were intended to respond to malnutrition conditions found 50 years back. As a result, the products have a high caloric index, which not only serves to exacerbate existing concerns about the rise in obesity rates, but also “blocks the entry of foreign actors, who do not see it as profitable to modify the recipes they use in other countries to address a small market … ” as detailed by the FNE’s report.

Following these warnings the Office of Productivity and National Entrepreneurship (OPEN) began work with the Ministry of Health to update the standards “in line with opening markets for consumers, to promote lower prices (…) and so that the Chilean regulation of infant feeding is in line with that of the rest of the world. ”

Full Content: América Economía

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.