Tubs of formula line supermarket shelves; their packaging awash with promises to satisfy hungry, colicky or reflux-hit babies. The vast array of products – offered at an even vaster array of prices – could leave any new parent scratching their head over which to choose. And more confusing still? The NHS website says there is “no evidence” to support many of the claims a lot of them make in the first place.
So goes the world of baby-formula marketing in Britain, where companies have learned to artfully skirt around regulations, many familiar with the industry believe, in the knowledge that enforcement will probably never come. The industry has raised prices by up to 45% during the cost of living crisis, leading to such a rise in thefts that many supermarkets now put security tags on tubs, or place them behind tills. Less discussed, though, is how big business lobbying allows spurious claims to abound in an industry estimated to be worth up to $109bn globally by 2027.
