Israel’s Health Ministry Feels “Materna Gold” Is Misleading The Tzibur
The Ministry of Health has taken issue with the Materna Gold baby formula product, which is being advertised as containing “mother’s secret golden element”, which results in it being “the closest ever to ima”. The ministry demands that Materna cease the advertisement campaign since it is deceptive.
Materna has been presenting its milk substitute for years as “the closest to mother,” but the new additions to the new product campaign led the Health Ministry to issue a strong demand to amend the advertising campaign, Yediot Achronot reports.
Last month, Materna began marketing Materna Gold, a baby food product, in the ad that says the product contains HMO, the initials of Human Oligosaccharides (the kind of carbohydrate that is part of mothers milk) – and the so-called “secret gold component of mother.” Materna’s ads also show that after years of research it became clear that the third component of mothers milk, after lactose and fat, has a significant role in influencing the infant’s immune system and can help reduce infections and infections. According to them, they were able to produce this component and include it in the new product “Materna Gold”. Because of this, they changed the campaign slogan from “closer to mother” to “closer to mother than ever.”
In the Health Ministry they saw – and were furious. At the beginning of the week, a letter was sent to the CEO of Materna, the Zofnik Foundation, demanding that the advertisements be stopped immediately for “Materna Gold,” claiming that it was misleading the public in contravention of the Public Health Protection Law and the Ministry of Health’s Food Service directives in violation of the law, “wrote Dr. Rivka Shefer, head of public health services at the Health Ministry.
“Comparing mothers milk with infant formula also reduces the value and importance of breast milk – contrary to guidelines that do not compare breast milk to any formula.”
The Ministry of Health claims that Materna tried to create the impression that breast milk replacement was equivalent to mothers milk, and that the use of the name of the HMO may cause consumers to think that it is a component of breast milk – in fact it is a synthetic chemical.
Materna said in response: “The campaign came up with the approval of the Second Authority, and the HMO component and the publication of its benefits are accepted worldwide, and Materna is careful to work with the Ministry of Health and study the issues raised in the letter.”
Source: (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)