lThe return to school for Laurent Freixe, the new CEO of the agri-food giant Nestlé, is complicated: a threatening economic environment, slow growth and… a weakened, even degraded image. The announced strategy of a “back to basics” will not be enough to restore growth. It must be accompanied by a reflection on ethical risk, currently too frequent and costly for the company.
Ethics is the daily application of company values and, more broadly, respect for human and social values. It is presented in two dimensions: on the one hand, sustainable development – ethical risk is then close to environmental risk –, on the other hand, governance – it is then about respecting commitments to transparency, taking into account interested parties and openness. to the needs of the global environment (competitive, regulatory, social, etc.) in which the organization operates.
The contribution to the groundwater deficit of the municipality of Vittel (Vosges), which is importing drinking water from neighboring centers, is an ethical risk in its first dimension: it damages the environment.
Delayed reaction
The contamination of Buitoni pizzas is an operational risk, but also an ethical one, this time in its governance dimension: the company’s reaction was late; The general management of the group was hiding behind the Buitoni brand; initially absent, his communication in cases of serious contamination and the death of two children was later minimalist; Interested parties were not taken into account.
Failure to comply with European regulations that prohibit the disinfection of mineral waters, the admission of treatments such as ultraviolet and activated carbon filters, the questioning of the sanitary quality of the Vittel, Contrex, Hépar and Perrier springs (bacteria, fecal matter, pesticides , etc.) ) of the National Health Security Agency and the Occitania Regional Health Agency fall into this same dimension; In both cases, these are proven frauds.
“Businesses” are decidedly too frequent at Nestlé: Buitoni and contaminated pizzas (2022, 2024), the contribution to the water deficit (2024), prohibited treatments (2024), contamination of natural sources of mineral water in France (2024).
The economic impact of the last three is strong. The group closed two wells in the Vosges that supplied Hépar, whose production was thus reduced by half. It also shut in several of the eight wells at Gard used by Perrier; Perrier production, which was around 1.7 billion bottles a year, has fallen to 1.2 billion since the use of illegal technical filtration solutions was ended; Perrier saw its share of the sparkling water market fall from 45% to 40% in 2023. To do this, the group invested around fifty million euros, worked eighteen months on two projects and launched a social plan at its the Vosges.
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