Nestlé pulls flavoured water as demand for purity rises

Nestlé Waters is ditching its Buxton flavoured waters from April amid political pressure prompting consumers to switch from sugary soft drinks to pure water.

Nestlé Waters head of marketing Rebecca White said: "Nestlé Waters produces flavoured waters under the Buxton brand. While these have been successful in recent years, we have taken the decision to phase these products out and they will begin to come off shelf from April."

Buxton flavoured waters are made in the Peak District. "Our focus is on providing 100% natural hydration via our Buxton, Vittel, San Pellegrino, Acqua Panna, Perrier and Nestlé Pure Life brands, which are all either pure untouched natural mineral or spring waters," said White.

Nestlé phased out its Vittel flavoured waters 18 months ago. The Department of Health's Change4Life marketing campaign, launched in January, encourages consumers to swap sugary drinks for low sugar or sugar-free options such as water, semi-skimmed milk or unsweetened fruit juice.

Nestlé Waters said: "We fully support the government in its Change4Life communications recommending that people drink more water; more than a quarter of the added sugar in children's diets comes from sugary drinks. So we're encouraging people to opt instead for something that is pure as nature intended."

The British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) said: "There's certainly a growing focus on health and wellbeing by government, including energy intake, and the BSDA is in discussions with the Food Standards Agency about how the industry can work with government on such issues. "This has been a focus for the soft drinks industry for some time due to changing consumer preferences and the industry's ability to listen to consumer needs."

In 2005, Nestlé declared its aim to up investment in innovation in flavoured waters and build the presence of brands such as Buxton and Vittel in the area. However, such products were slammed by consumer groups and the national press for projecting a healthy image despite their sugar content.

The BSDA said UK sales of still and flavoured waters fell 16% in 2007, hit by the poor summer. Nestlé Waters clocked up sales of 9.6bn Swiss Francs (£5.7bn) in 2008, reflecting -1.6% organic growth and -3.9% real internal growth. It was the only Nestlé division showing falling sales in its full year results, posted last week. The firm blamed the slowdown of the bottled water category, particularly in Western Europe and North America. Global profit margins were also hit by hikes in polyethylene terephthalate and distribution costs. However, emerging markets achieved organic growth close to 20%.