Nestle, the world’s largest food company, is launching an important project in China.
The snack agency noticed that the “two cities publicity” today contained an article that yesterday, the board of directors of Nestle Shuangcheng Co., Ltd. held its 45th meeting. Zhangxiqiang, executive vice president of Nestle group, chairman and CEO of Nestle Greater China, mentioned at the meeting that “at present, it is promoting the development of a new product for many years – milk protein hydrolysis production line to reach the production capacity and be listed as soon as possible”.
Today, Nestle China confirmed to the snack generation that it is promoting the upgrading project of Nestle infant formula milk powder in Shuangcheng and will build a new workshop to produce hydrolyzed infant formula milk powder. It is worth noting that this means that nestle will soon have its first domestic hydrolyzed infant formula production line in China.
Let’s focus on this slightly “mysterious” project.
mainland
According to the public information, the snack agency found that according to the environmental impact report of the Shuangcheng Nestle infant formula milk powder upgrading project released earlier this year, the project is located in the existing factory area of Shuangcheng nestle in Heilongjiang Province. The existing production process is technically transformed, and the whey protein hydrolysis process is added at the front of the existing production line. Through the whey protein hydrolysis, the purpose of “producing hydrolyzed infant formula” is achieved.
Photo source: environmental impact report of Nestle infant formula upgrading project in Shuangcheng
According to the above report, due to the limited layout of the existing workshops, it is proposed to build a new production workshop this time. The workshop covers an area of 2183.61m2, with a building area of 3183.96m2. The number of building floors is three (interlayer is set locally). The workshop is equipped with whey protein hydrolysis section and raw material dissolution section. After the completion of the project, it can produce 22400 tons of hydrolyzed formula infant milk powder per year.
报告显示，雀巢该项目的总投资金额为1.9亿元。
Environmental impact report of Shuangcheng Nestle infant formula milk powder upgrading project
According to the above data, the construction period of the project is from April 2022 to December 2022. In other words, if everything goes smoothly, Nestle will have the first domestic hydrolyzed infant formula production line in China next year.
Today, xiaoshidai learned from Nestle China that at present, the hydrolyzed infant formula sold by Nestle in China are all imported products.
Photo source: environmental impact report of Nestle infant formula upgrading project in Shuangcheng
At yesterday’s meeting, Shuangcheng said that “it will provide all-round support in all aspects of enterprise development, such as new product formula registration and factory approval”.
Zhangxiqiang said at the meeting that nestle Shuangcheng is the first company invested by Nestle group in China. Its enterprise development is of strategic significance. It is not only a touchstone for the Chinese market, but also a ballast for the development of the group. In the past two challenging years, Nestle Shuangcheng has made great progress and strengthened its long-term investment determination.
Photo source: Twin Cities publicity
The last time Nestle announced its big investment plan in Shuangcheng was in 2020. It said it planned to invest 400million yuan to expand its business capacity in Shuangcheng and further strengthen its high-end production in local factories, including expanding the production area of baby rice noodles, and upgrading the technology of its existing workshops.
“In the future, enterprises will focus on Strengthening R & D and continuously improve the market competitiveness of new products.” Zhangxiqiang said at the meeting yesterday.
expand
Hydrolyzed milk powder, also known as hypoallergenic milk powder, uses hydrolyzed protein technology to cut up the complete macromolecular protein so that it can be more easily absorbed and digested.
At present, through general trade, cross-border e-commerce and other import forms, Nestle has introduced a number of hydrolyzed infant formula products into the Chinese market.
For example, the snack agency learned that under Nestle infant nutrition business, there are milk protein partially hydrolyzed infant formula such as “wei’erning Neng” for mild gastrointestinal discomfort and “super Qi Neng” for allergy prevention. Under Nestle Health Sciences, there are “peptide Minshu” and “ai’ershu” milk protein deep hydrolysis formula specially formulated for infants against milk protein allergy, and amino acid formula “enminshu”.
Through localization of production, Nestle is expected to further expand its existing advantages in this segment of infant milk powder.
Today, a senior person in the milk powder industry told the snack generation that the proportion of babies’ allergic constitution is not low, and many of them need to take special milk powder to solve it. At present, most of the brands with hydrolysis layout are limited to partial hydrolysis and other products, and few of them really do deep hydrolysis.
资料显示，特殊医学用途婴儿配方食品的类别（适用人群）有：无乳糖或低乳糖配方（乳糖不耐受婴儿）、乳蛋白部分水解配方（乳蛋白过敏高风险婴儿）、乳蛋白深度水解配方或氨基酸配方（食物蛋白过敏婴儿）、早产/低出生体重婴儿配方（早产/低出生体重儿）、氨基酸代谢障碍配方（氨基酸代谢障碍婴儿）和母乳营养补充剂（早产/低出生体重儿）。
“Special approval documents are difficult to get, and there is a certain threshold, so this product has a certain market value and competitiveness.” In response to Nestle’s latest localization action, the above-mentioned person said that Nestle has no products in terms of special products, and localization will help further consolidate its professional image and position in the market.
seize
Nestle China has been continuously distributing its special milk powder with deep hydrolysis.
As introduced by snack generation, in January, 2020, Nestle announced that its “peptide Minshu” and “ai’ershu” milk protein deep hydrolysis formula infant formula for special medical purposes had successively obtained the registration license for special food in China. This also makes nestle the first milk powder enterprise to obtain the qualification for the sales of infant milk protein allergy deep hydrolysis formula products in the Chinese market.
Previously, Nestle’s special medical foods for infants and young children were imported with original packaging. For example, peptide Minshu and aiershu were produced in Nestle’s ninspet factory in the Netherlands. In order to meet the needs of the Chinese market, Nestle also invested about 700million yuan in the Dutch factory to set up a new production line.
In fact, Nestle also faces fierce competition. At present, domestic and foreign milk powder “players” such as Danone, Mead Johnson and Jianhe group mainly supply relevant products by means of import, such as a variety of amino acid formulas and deep hydrolysis formulas launched by Danone Nutricia in China. Mead Johnson has pro Shu milk protein partially hydrolyzed formula, anminjian LGG deeply hydrolyzed protein formula, anminsu amino acid formula and so on. At present, all the products sold in China are imported products.
On the one hand, China’s milk powder racing track has a “registration threshold”. If imported products can only enter the market through cross-border products, they cannot enter offline channels. On the other hand, compared with ordinary infant milk powder, hydrolyzed formula is still a small market.
However, the data show that in recent years, the demand for amino acids and deeply hydrolyzed formulas for the treatment of milk protein allergy in the Chinese market is increasing.
根据2021年发表在《小儿过敏与免疫学》杂志的调研数据，过去20年中国牛奶蛋白过敏发病率增加了2.6倍，达到5.7%。这一数据背后也意味着，平均每100个宝宝里就有6个存在不同程度的牛奶蛋白过敏，发病率在全球范围内属于偏高水平。
小食代此前曾经介绍过，雀巢首席执行官马克·施奈德（Mark Schneider）近日表示，雀巢坚定地致力于发展婴幼儿营养品这一品类，公司愿意在华投资于此，会准备好花钱在创新上，“谨慎地探索机会”。
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