Nestle has a history of 130 years and is one of the largest food companies in the world, ranking eighth in Europe and thirty-sixth in the world. Nestle is the first enterprise in the world to apply lactic acid bacteria to food.
In China, Nestle has invested in 65,438+08 enterprises, producing and selling products including milk powder, condensed milk, yogurt, infant formula, Nestle coffee and companion, Merlot, lemon tea, mineral water, soup, condiments and sauces, chocolate, candy, ice cream and other frozen foods.
Shuangcheng Nestle Co., Ltd. is Nestle's first joint venture in China and the first industrial project in China jointly invested by Nestle and Heilongjiang Shuangcheng Dairy Company on 1987. The company is located in Shuangcheng, Heilongjiang Province, and was fully put into production in July 1990. It is one of the largest dairy factories in China at present.
Case replay: (Source: Oriental Morning Post, Beijing Morning Post, CCTV Economic Half-hour, Zhejiang Satellite TV)
On May 25, 2005, Zhejiang Industrial and Commercial Bureau announced the recent sampling inspection report on children's food quality in this province. Among them, Nestle brand gold medal growth 3+ milk powder produced by Heilongjiang Shuangcheng Nestle Co., Ltd. is impressively listed in the food catalogue because of excessive iodine. At the same time, the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce has notified all localities to investigate the business units that sell unqualified children's food and temporarily detain unqualified goods according to law; Different batches of products of the same kind produced by unqualified children's food production enterprises must be taken out of the cabinet first, sampled for inspection, and then sold again after passing the inspection.
In terms of milk powder, the national standard is that the iodine content per100g should be between 30 micrograms and 150 micrograms, while the iodine content of this product of Nestle is 19 1 micrograms to 198 micrograms, which exceeds the upper limit of the national standard by 40 micrograms. According to food safety experts, excessive iodine intake will lead to thyroid lesions, and children are more likely to cause goiter than adults.
Because Nestle's products have always been trusted by consumers, consumers were shocked when Nestle's iodine exceeded the standard and was disclosed by the media.
On the same day, Nestle's public relations agent, Beijing Global Public Relations Company, said that Nestle already knew about this matter and was very concerned. He also said that "Nestle" food has always been responsible to consumers and must be safe. However, the company will also actively cooperate with the industrial and commercial departments to properly handle the incident. At present, the company is investigating the incident of "iodine exceeding the standard", and it may take some time for the details to be announced.
On 26th, Nestle China Company responded quickly and issued a statement to the media, saying that the test results of Nestle iodine met the international food standards for infant milk powder. Nestle attached great importance to the test results of iodine in Zhejiang, and immediately conducted a comprehensive inspection of the use of raw materials and the production and processing process. The investigation found that the product is made of fresh milk, and iodine naturally exists in fresh milk. This spot check shows that the iodine exceeds the standard because the natural iodine content in milk raw materials fluctuates, and the content of this ingredient is very small, so Nestle Gold Growth 3+ milk powder is safe.
On the 27th, in Shanghai, supermarkets such as Lianhua and Auchan said in succession that they had negotiated with Nestle dealers to remove the cabinets of the problem products, and Carrefour had issued a notice to the whole country to remove the cabinets. "
On the 27th, Nestle said that the Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for China Residents published by the Nutrition Society of China stated that the safe upper limit of children's iodine intake was 800 micrograms per day. Therefore, the iodine content mentioned in the above test will not bring any safety and health problems. However, experts in the industry pointed out that the "Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for China Residents" published by China Nutrition Society only announced the safe upper limit of children's daily intake of iodine, which was not directly related to the national standards that Nestle milk products should abide by.
After all supermarkets in China removed the gold medal "Nestle Growth 3+" milk powder, some supermarkets began to return it unconditionally, but Nestle China said that the "problem milk powder" has not been recalled yet.
The city gate caught fire, which affected the fish in the pool. Gold medal growth 3 milk powder accident, almost all Nestle products were affected. On the 28th, in the survey conducted by Sohu, Sina and other websites, 80% netizens said that they would not buy Nestle for the time being or would never use it again.
On 28th, Nestle (China) Co., Ltd. officially announced the batch of milk powder with iodine exceeding the standard as: 2004.09.26438+0. Although Nestle claims to know the production quantity and which markets it sells to, it refuses to disclose specific information to the public.
On the 29th, CCTV broadcast "Nestle knows there is something wrong with milk powder" for half an hour. After watching the program, consumers are deeply impressed by seven scenes:
1. During the interview, Ms. Sun, the commercial manager of Nestle China Co., Ltd., took off the microphone three times and asked to end the interview, and answered reporters' questions in silence three times. When the reporter said that the interview was not over yet, Ms. Sun said, "I have said everything" and "I think it is over"
2. Ms. Sun said in an interview: "According to national standards, these products are unqualified." However, he said, "Our products are safe and there are no problems." . Because she thinks her milk powder meets the international food standards for infant milk powder. But when she opened the international standard mentioned in the statement, the number in the upper limit of iodine content was empty. This means that no matter how high the iodine content of Nestle milk powder is, it meets this international standard.
3. Ms. Sun said that Nestle only learned through the media that the iodine content of its products exceeded the standard after the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce made a decision. But in fact, the relevant departments gave Nestle fifteen days to explain the situation before publishing the test results. In other words, Nestle knew that unqualified milk powder was flowing to the market as early as 15 days ago, that is, around 10 in May, but they did not warn consumers in time.
4. The iodine content marked on the outer packaging bag of Nestle milk powder with iodine exceeding the standard is 30- 150 micrograms, which meets the national standard. But the actual test result is 19 1- 198 μ g, which is totally inconsistent with the label on the package. The Consumers Association believes that "this is misleading, providing consumers with an untrue information and infringing on consumers' right to know. "
5. When the reporter asked, "Have you checked the reasons for the excessive iodine content?" At that time, Ms. Sun said: "We have checked that the iodine content of raw milk is not balanced. Raw milk is collected from thousands of households, and the range of iodine content is difficult to control. This is a fact. " But then he said, "It can be controlled." But for the reporter, "Since it can be controlled, why does it exceed the standard?" Ms. Sun answered this question in silence. But in fact, the reporter found that the content of fat and protein in milk was listed as an important indicator of whether fresh milk was qualified by Nestle, while the content of iodine was not within the scope of sampling inspection.
6. When the reporter interviewed the production factory in Harbin Shuangcheng, the staff of Nestle showed the reporter around the production process, but refused to answer any questions about iodine exceeding the standard. When the reporter walked out of the workshop, the staff told the reporter that the interview was over.
7. When the reporter asked, "Consumers really want to know where the problem milk powder was sold. Did you find out? " At that time, Ms. Sun said that "we all have control", but she also said that "this number is controlled by the company, and I am not engaged in production." "As a public relations manager, the information I have at present is the information released by our press release. If there is further news, I will tell you. "
When the reporter asked, "Now consumers want to know some news, can their right to know be guaranteed?" Ms. Sun responded to the reporter with silence.
On May 30th, more and more informed consumers went to the supermarket to ask for a refund, but most of them were rejected. Nestle still hasn't made any further reply to the recall or return of the problem milk powder incident, resulting in that most consumers can't return it.
On May 30th, in an interview with Zhejiang Satellite TV, Ms. Sun of Nestle said, "It's a pity that these batches were found to have exceeded the standard, which is also a fact. We apologize for the unnecessary trouble caused to consumers. " However, in response to the consumer's return request, Ms. Sun replied, "It has exceeded this point. Can't this product be used? " So, I just told you that one of the 29 trace elements is a little high. Can't you use micro-super? This problem is a key. We think there is nothing wrong with this product, so we think it is safe. This is very clear. "
On May 3 1, a legal person pointed out that Nestle had violated the relevant provisions of the criminal law. Article 140 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that producers and sellers who adulterate their products with fakes, pass off the fakes as the real ones, and pass off the unqualified products as qualified products, and the sales amount is more than 50,000 yuan, shall bear criminal responsibility. At the same time, Article 143 of the Criminal Law also stipulates that those who produce and sell food that does not meet the hygiene standards and cause serious harm to human health shall bear criminal responsibility.
Case review:
Nestle has always been a negative event in dealing with crisis events. In the1970s, Nestle was boycotted for ten years, but in 2003, an environmental organization named Greenpeace accused Nestle of genetically modified food, and some consumers in China sued Nestle. However, this incident of iodine exceeding the standard is "wrong values+wrong press spokesman = failed crisis public relations", and Nestle has become a more classic negative textbook. The failure lies in:
1, insensitive to crisis, lacking judgment on the future direction of crisis, and lacking crisis management system. I knew it was classified as nonconforming product 0/5 days before/kloc-,but I was lucky and didn't prepare for any crisis. Although the public relations company spoke on behalf of Nestle on the day of media exposure, it was already burning eyebrows at that time, to no avail.
2. The internal communication system is not smooth. Contradictions among public relations personnel are obviously caused by poor communication between the factory and the headquarters, and between the production department, the sales department, the marketing department and the public relations department.
3, adhere to the safety theory, lack of integrity, lack of values. One moment it is in line with international standards, and the other moment it is in line with the upper limit of iodine intake in the reference intake of dietary nutrients for Chinese residents. It is evasive, completely devoid of integrity, and does not show any values of consumer responsibility.
4. Unwilling to take responsibility. In the case that all supermarkets in the country have removed their products, Nestle still said that it would not recycle them, but only apologized to consumers for "unnecessary trouble". Life is a matter of life, just unnecessary trouble? How can this mentality make consumers want to forgive you and trust you?
5. The quality of public relations staff is too poor. The photos of CCTV interviewing public relations personnel widely circulated in the media are all pictures of lowering their heads and taking off their headphones. That look and gesture makes people feel that they have done something wrong, but they don't want to admit their mistakes. However, he interrupted the interview three times and responded in silence, which shows that he is not professional enough. Its repeated answers are full of loopholes, inconsistent and irrelevant, which has ruined Nestle's image.
Strangely, when interviewed by CCTV, Nestle actually asked her to come forward to receive news media such as Zhejiang Satellite TV. It can be seen that there is no one in the DPRK!
6, do not know the current affairs, pretend to be mysterious. If you are poor, you will change your mind. Nestle, as an infant, has problems with its food quality, which naturally causes people's concern and worry. However, Nestle's public relations company and public relations staff always put on a business-like shelf and said, "I'll tell you more information" and "the interview is over". That kind of arrogance and indifference is vividly displayed.
As trees are, so are fruits. In the crisis, you sow the seeds of honesty and responsibility, then you will gain the trust and confidence of consumers; But if you plant lies and deception, you will reap the chilling of consumers and the devastating blow of the market.