On November 14, Nestle China responded to the Red Star Capital Bureau that it had recently monitored reports that "NetEase reported to the State Administration of Market Supervision that Nestle and its dealers had provided second-hand ice makers to NetEase.".

"We attach great importance to this and conduct an internal investigation at the first time. After preliminary verification, the ice maker mentioned in this event was not produced or provided by Nestle. The quality and safety of food is the top priority of Nestle's work. The products sold and provided in China meet the requirements of relevant national standards, and consumers can eat with confidence 。” Nestle China said.

It is understood that on November 9, a netizen on social media said that a new ice maker of NetEase came from Tencent. A staff member of NetEase confirmed the matter to the Red Star Capital Bureau.

 

On November 10, NetEase's recruitment account of Xiaohongshu released a statement saying: "On the evening of November 9, we received reports from relevant employees and netizens that the new ice maker in our company was suspected of wearing a Youshang ID card. In this regard, our company has investigated it overnight."

 

Screenshot from Xiaohongshu account of Netease recruitment

According to NetEase's recruitment, the ice maker is provided by the first level agent of Nestle coffee along with the coffee powder. The ice maker is not a new machine, and the relevant parties have never informed about it in cooperation and communication. NetEase has stopped using the involved ice maker and supporting materials and submitted them to a third-party agency for inspection. Once any problem is found, NetEase will complain to the relevant departments and reserve the right to sue the first level agent of Nestle Coffee.

On the morning of November 14, the Shanghai Securities News announced that recently, NetEase sent a letter to the relevant national departments, reporting that Nestle and its agents provided second-hand ice makers to NetEase and other customers with major food safety hazards, and suspected of violating the relevant national standards and legal requirements for the production and sales of "ice makers" due to concealing the source, second-hand use, bare machine transportation, inadequate supervision and other issues.

As one of the "overlords" in the global beverage industry, Nestle, caught in the whirlpool of public opinion, has not performed well in the Chinese market in recent years.

The financial report shows that in the first three quarters of this year, Nestle's total sales in the world were 68.8 billion Swiss francs, down 0.4% year on year. The sales volume in Greater China was CHF 3.6 billion, down 5.7% year on year, making it the region with the largest sales decline in the world.

A reporter noticed that from January to September this year, Nestle's coffee business achieved high single digit growth globally, but the growth rate in the Chinese market was only low single digit, lower than the global average.

◆ Source: Red Star News, Beijing Business Daily, Daily Economic News