Bounty policy change

“As a matter of importance we want to inform you of a Bounty policy change and reaffirm our stance on breastfeeding.  Therefore, please find enclosed a press release and copy of our revised policy. To summarise:

Weaning Policy Change

Weaning foods are currently labelled in accordance with the European Union Directive, and the minimum age at which a food can be labelled is still four months. Bounty believes that this conflicts with the Department of Health’s advice for exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and for six months as the recommended age for weaning babies. 

Therefore, at its earliest opportunity (expected by end of 2009) Bounty will no longer carry any promotion of weaning foods (i.e. any food which exclusively markets itself to promote the transition between milk and a solid diet) in any of our communications to new and expectant mums.

Breastfeeding Update

Bounty is aware of its legacy misconceptions relating to formula milks which have built over five decades.   Therefore, we would like to take the opportunity to remind you of Bounty’s commitment today to supporting breastfeeding:

·         Bounty reinforces the advice that babies should be exclusively breastfed until they are at least 6 months old, in line with the Breastfeeding Friendly Initiative, Department of Health and World Health Organisation recommendations.

·         For clarity, Bounty does not advertise or sample any infant formula or follow-on milks.  Following our latest Best Practice policy change, we have extended this exclusion to ‘Toddler’ and ’12 month plus’ milk products, due to concerns about promoting formula milk by brand association.