Hain Celestial
Headquarters
United StatesType of ownership
PublicEstimated percentage of Hain Celestial's global F&B sales from CF
28%Estimated percentage of Hain Celestial's global baby food sales from CF
90%Countries covered in country studies
China/US© All rights reserved
Score 2024
Score
Score
Important:
The research findings regarding companies’ performance in this Index are based on information shared by companies or gathered by service providers, in addition to information that is available in the public domain.
The level of detail and comprehensiveness of information shared by companies and gathered through external service providers varied. In the case of limited or no engagement by companies, this Index may not represent the full extent of their efforts. Similarly, in the case of limited data collected by service providers, the findings of this Index may not provide a comprehensive representation of company practices.
ATNI’s research and Indexes do not assess compliance with local regulations or laws, but rather assess private sector performance against international standards and guidance.
CF Country Studies
Score
The Country Studies component of the BMS and CF Marketing Indexes 2024 evaluates the extent to which a company’s marketing practices align with specific provisions of the WHO Code not against local Code-related regulations). The main marketing channels assessed in the Country Studies for the BMS and CF Marketing Indexes 2024 are online points-of-sale, traditional and online media outlets, and product labels. Hain Celestial sells CF products in two (China and the US) of the five countries selected for the assessment, which together represent almost 70% of Hain Celestial’s estimated global CF sales. The Country Studies results for Hain Celestial are summarized below for each country and across each marketing channel.
Country Studies overview
| Hain Celestial | Country assessments | CF market | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total incidences of non-compliance across online, traditional media, and product labels | Number of product labels assessed | Company brands found | CF market share | Proportion of Hain Celestial's global CF sales | |
| CHINA | 1 | 1 | Earth’s Best, Ella’s kitchen | <5% | 20% |
| GERMANY | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| INDONESIA | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| US | 13 | 8 | Earth’s Best | 10% | 48% |
| VIET NAM | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
(0 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 100%)
(>0-10 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 66%)
(>10-20 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 33%)
(> 20 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 0%)
• In China, where Hain Celestial’s CF sales represent approximately 20% of the company’s global CF sales, the company has a relatively small market share (<5%) One non-compliance incidence was found, which was one non-compliant product label.
• In the US, where Hain Celestial’s CF sales represent almost 50% of the company’s global CF sales, the company has around 10% of the market share. A total of 13 non-compliance incidences were identified, which included five advertisements or promotions on online media channels and all eight product labels assessed contained one or more instances of non-compliance.
Observed incidences of non-compliance with the Code per country
food < 6 months of age
food 6-36 months of age
Main in-country findings
The highest number of incidences of non-compliance for Hain Celestial were found in the US (13), followed by China (1).
Across all country assessments, the majority of incidences of non-compliant marketing practices observed for Hain Celestial were for inappropriate CF product labels (8). A total of five incidences of non-compliance were identified through the social listening of online platforms. On traditional media, no incidences of non-compliance were found in the six months the channels were monitored.
One commercial complementary food product explicitly intended for infants below six months of age was found in the US in this assessment. According to the WHO, this product should not be available on the market and was counted as a non-compliant label.
Online findings
• Among the total incidences of non-compliance found online (5), there were no observations identified for non-compliant point-of-sale promotions on online retail channels in the eight weeks the channels were monitored.
• The five incidences of non-compliance were found only found in the US on the company’s local social media platform (Facebook), with an average of two incidences of non-compliance with each observation. All the advertisements were missing statements on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond. In addition, two of the five Hain Celestial’s CF products found promoted online did not have a clear recommended age of introduction. Four of the five online advertisements found included a marketing claim.
Traditional media findings
• There were no non-compliant observations in China, or the US for Hain Celestial’s CF products promoted on traditional media in the six-month period the selected channels were monitored.
CF product label
• The total number of Hain Celestial’s CF products assessed were nine, one in China, and eight in the US.
• One CF product in the US was found to be marketed as suitable for infants under six months of age. The Code recommends the introduction of CF products no earlier than six months of age to protect exclusive breastfeeding in this period. As those products should not be available on the market, they were counted as non-compliances and not assessed on any further indicators that evaluate appropriate marketing practices. Therefore, the following results are for CF 6-36 months and those with no clear age indicated.
• For all remaining eight Hain Celestial product labels assessed, at least one incident of Code non-compliance was observed. The average number of incidences of non-compliance per product label assessed was three in the US.
• Across the US markets, all Hain Celestial CF labels assessed contained at least one type of claim and none of the product labels included a statement on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond.
• Other key observations classified as non-compliant with the Code were identified in the US where three products assessed included an image or text that might suggest use for infants under the age of six months.
• Of all products, two included an image, text, or other representation that may suggest that the product is inherently superior to home-prepared foods. Another two incidences of non-compliance found in the US, included an endorsement by a professional. In addition, one incidence of non-compliance included an image or text that might undermine breastfeeding, and one incidence of non-compliance implied that complementary foods are equivalent or superior to breastmilk.
• It is worth noting that ATNI did not have the resources to collect products from the different markets and take pictures of its labels. For this assessment ATNI used product label images from an external provider. For the one product in China, images were not clear enough or did not show all parts of the package, in these cases ATNI asked the respective companies to provide images of the labels. Hain Celestial did not provide images of product labels (as requested by ATNI) to help complete the assessments for all products, therefore the assessment of this product was incomplete. Since at least one incidence of non-compliance was identified from the available image, the label was counted as a non-compliant observation.
Recommendations
• A commercial complementary food explicitly intended for infants under six months of age was found for Hain Celestial in this assessment, which is against WHO recommendations as these products are considered unwanted breast-milk substitutes since they interfere with exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months. Hain Celestial is urged to stop producing and selling commercial CF for infants under six months of age in line with global public health recommendations.
• Given the incidences of non-compliant marketing practices for CF products observed, Hain Celestial is encouraged to consider the gaps identified to improve its CF marketing practices globally such that they fully align with the requirements of the Code.
• The WHA 69.9 supported guidance includes recommendations around which messages should be present on CF labels to support optimal infant and young child feeding, and which are inappropriate and could undermine recommended practices. Hain Celestial should incorporate these recommendations in its policies and practices and apply them to its CF products, as none of the CF products in this assessment fully met these requirements. Examples of aspects that the company can improve across all platforms include restricting the use of all types of claims as defined by WHO Europe’s Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model for all forms of CF marketing. Hain Celestial is also encouraged to include statements on exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond.
• Hain Celestial is encouraged to consider the recommendations of the Code and WHA 69.9 supported guidance to appropriately advertise and promote CF products and brands intended for older infants and young children between six months and three years of age on all forms of media platforms globally. The company should also refrain from including endorsements by professionals like pediatricians and nutritionists.
• Hain Celestial is strongly encouraged to take responsibility for monitoring its marketing practices beyond local regulations, according to the principles and the aim of the Code and subsequent relevant resolutions, and to take steps to ensure this includes online media channels.
• Hain Celestial is strongly encouraged to cooperate fully with any future independent third-party assessments by providing clear and comprehensive product label images. Incomplete assessments can lead to inaccurate evaluations and hinder efforts to address incidences of non-compliance effectively.
• ATNI is calling on Hain Celestial to review all incidences of non-compliance identified across all marketing channels, which were shared in detail with the company, and to take corrective action in each of the markets.
CF Corporate Profile
Score
The Corporate Profile component of the BMS and CF Marketing Indexes 2024 evaluates the extent to which a company’s policies align with various provisions of the Code, the effectiveness of its related management systems as well as the company’s level of disclosure on commitments relating to CF marketing. Hain Celestial’s CF marketing commitments were assessed across nine topics that cover different aspects of the Code yielding an average score that is equivalent to the company’s initial overall Corporate Profile score before a geographic penalty (if applicable) is applied. A company that is found to market CF for infants under six months of age only gets half of the initial overall Corporate Profile score (this is identified by one of the indicators in the first topic on “Guiding Principles of Infant and Young Child Feeding”). As described in the findings on the topic “Guiding Principles of Infant and Young Child Feeding” below, Hain Celestial was found to market CF products for infants under six months of age, therefore its initial overall Corporate Profile score was halved from 2% to 1%. The final Corporate Profile score considers how the company’s marketing commitments are applied across different markets for CF products intended for older infants and young children between six months and up to three years of age (CF 6-36 months). The next section ‘Geographic application of CF commitments by product type’ shows how the company’s application of commitments for CF 6-36 months was evaluated. The scores and findings on each topic are described in further detail in the section below on ‘CF Commitments by Topic’.
Geographic application by Hain Celestial of CF commitments by product type
The percentage of product sales where commitments are upheld, and the geographic penalty applied to CF products intended for older infants and young children aged six months up to three years. The penalty ranges from 0% up to 90% depending on whether a company fully upholds its CF marketing commitments in all or none of the countries in which it operates, respectively, where national Code regulations are absent or less stringent than the company’s policies and standards.
|
Corporate Profile score before penalty |
Product type |
Percentage of Hain Celestial’s global sales from markets where CF commitments are upheld |
Geographic penalty applied |
Final Corporate Profile score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2% |
Commercial complementary foods 6-36 months |
0% | 90% | 0.1% |
Commercial Complementary Foods
• No information was found in the public domain nor shared by the company describing how BMS marketing commitments are upheld for each product type and in which markets. Therefore, the corresponding geographic penalty for each product type (infant formula, follow-up formula, and growing-up milk) is the maximum of 90% and the final Corporate Profile score is 0,12%.
Topics Overview
CF commitments by topic
Most topics include both policy commitments and management systems except for ‘Guiding principles of infant and young child feeding’ which only considers policy commitments, ‘Implementation and Monitoring’ which only considers management systems, and ‘Disclosure’ which only considers the level of disclosure of identified commitments. ‘Lobbying and Policy Influence’ is the only topic that includes policy commitments, management systems and disclosure.