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Tuesday 30 August 2016

Nestlé

During the 1860s, in Vevey, Switzerland, Henri Nestlé was working on a concentrated infant food formula, which required that he found a way to treat milk so that it would not spoil while in storage but could be quickly reconstituted for use. The result of his efforts was a nutritious sweetened condensed milk product for babies that could be used by mothers who were unable to breast-feed. Nestlé founded Société Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé to manufacture the product.

Henri Nestlé

Around the same time, the Swiss chocolate manufacturer, Daniel Peter, was working on creating a chocolate bar flavored with milk, to lessen the bittersweet taste, but was struggling to produce a smooth mixture of milk and chocolate. The answer laid with Henri Nestlé's sweetened condensed milk, which turned out to be perfect for Peter's purposes; the low water content made it possible to mix it with the pressed cocoa bean to create a chocolate bar that did not spoil and was less bittersweet.  In 1879 Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé merged with Daniel Peter's milk chocolate company.

Nestlé was formed in 1905 by the merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1866 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé.

In 1911, Nestlé constructed the world's largest condensed milk plant in Dennington, Victoria, Australia.

A 1915 advertisement for "Nestlés Food", an early infant formula

In 1938, the Nestlé Company developed a freeze-dried coffee for retail. They were prompted to do this after being asked for help by Brazilian authorities to find a solution to their coffee surpluses. A glut of coffee beans had filled up all available storage space and more room was needed for the next harvest. Nestlé called its own freeze-dried coffee product Nescafé, and it quickly proved successful in Nestlé's home country of Switzerland.

By the turn of the 21st century Nestlé SA had been the world's largest food producer for several years. It is still the largest food company in the world measured by revenues.

By Nestlé - Aerial shot of Nestlé HQ in Switzerland Wikipedia
Perrier water and its competitor San Pellegrino are both owned by the Nestle corporation.

Most of Nestlé's bottled water is taken for free from freshwater lakes in British Columbia.

In Japan, Nestle has introduced sake-flavored Kit Kats that contain 0.8 percent alcohol.

Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce

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