A controversial scheme in which midwives paid by a leading formula milk company have been providing infant feeding advice to new parents has been axed after an outcry.
The initiative, hosted by the supermarket giant Tesco and revealed by The BMJ last week,1 drew criticism for its parallels to disgraced activities by formula milk companies that took place many decades ago.
Midwives hired by Danone, which owns the UK’s leading formula brand, were being paid nearly double NHS rates to work at Tesco offering infant feeding advice.
The service breached the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes, established by WHO and Unicef, which clearly advises against marketing personnel seeking direct or indirect contact with pregnant women or mothers. As the midwives were working for Danone they are seen as marketing personnel.
Tesco originally said it intended to continue the pilot in its flagship Hertfordshire store and roll out the service to two other stores this year.
However, as The BMJ story published Tesco announced that the Hertfordshire pilot would finish in a few weeks’ time. A spokesperson said, “The pilot concludes at the end of January, and we will reflect on the views raised by customers and stakeholders when deciding how we support customers in the future.” Tesco no longer has plans to roll out the service to other stores.
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Marina Jordan, a midwife who took part in the Tesco pilot before quitting for ethical reasons, told The BMJ, “I’m really pleased that Tesco has reconsidered its plans following the concerns raised.
Providing infant feeding support is essential, but it must remain impartial and free from commercial influence. There is a clear ethical line that shouldn’t be crossed when it comes to promoting formula products, and it’s reassuring to see that awareness around this issue is growing.
“My hope is that this serves as a reminder that people deserve truly unbiased, evidence based information to make informed decisions, without marketing agendas creeping in.”
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Vicky Sibson, director of the charity the First Steps Nutrition Trust, which promotes healthy eating in children up to 5 years old, said that Tesco had done the right thing by ending the Danone funded service. “Danone was clearly using this scheme as a marketing opportunity for their premium formula milk brand. This is unethical in a context in which breastfeeding support remains a postcode lottery and many parents are unaware that all first infant formulas are nutritionally equivalent regardless of brand, price, or company claims of superior quality.”
Sibson added that misleading marketing disrupted informed decision making about infant feeding, undermining “both breastfeeding and safe and appropriate formula feeding.”
She said, “If Tesco wanted to continue to provide an infant feeding service, we would urge them to do so without funding or support from the formula industry and using information that is aligned with NHS advice, evidence based, and free from any commercial influence.”
