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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where can I buy a particular product?

2. Which of your products are suitable for restricted diets?

3. Can I submit an idea for a new product/variant to existing products?

4. I am doing a project at school/college/university and need some information about your business or products?

5. I have been on holiday recently and have tried some of your products – am I able to buy them here in the UK and Ireland?

6. Are the Nestlé products in the UK and Ireland available in other countries?

7. I am feeling creative! Do you have any recipes that I could use?

8. How do you make chocolate?

9. How do you make instant coffee?

10. How do you decaffeinate your coffee?

11. I will be travelling to the UK or Ireland soon and have been using your baby milk. Is it available in the UK?

12. What is Nestlé's response to scam emails?


1. WHERE CAN I BUY A PARTICULAR PRODUCT?

The majority of our products are in full national distribution and therefore available at most supermarkets (or stores for confectionery items) and shops. However, goods are often delivered to a central warehouse and it is the retailers who decide which branches are to receive the products. Therefore, it is very difficult to provide details of shops stocking our products because only the retailers themselves have this information. We recommend you try calling your local store’s Head Office on the numbers listed below – they may be able to give you further stockist information; we hope your search is successful. One point worth considering is that demand for products can vary from month to month and it may be possible that the most popular lines may sometimes have simply sold out.

Or you can call the Nestle Careline free on 00800 637 85385.

I’m looking for your Sarson’s vinegar/Peanut Butter/Branston Pickle/Honey/Rowntree’s Tablet Jelly/PanYan Pickle.
All the above products were sold in 2002 to Premier International Foods and can be contacted using the following address and telephone number:
Premier International Foods
Bridge Road
Long Sutton
Spalding
Lincolnshire
PE12 9EQ

Tel: 0800 032 7111

I’m looking for Creamola Foam/Snackstop/Powdered recipe mixes.
All the above products were sold in 2002 to Brand Partnership who can be contacted using the following address and telephone number:
Brand Partnership
Brand House
SouthFork Ind Estate
Dartmouth Way
Leeds LS11 5JL

Tel: 0113 270 6061

Where can I buy Maggi products in the United Kingdom?
Maggi products can be ordered direct from OSEM Tele–Sales. The telephone number is 01268 410707.

I’ve been looking in the shops for these Confectionery lines and can’t seem to find them anymore, where are they sold? Are they still available?
Bunny Tots, Candy Tots, Tiger Tots, Cabana, Caramel Wafer, Coffee Matchmakers, Golden Cup, Good News, Maverick, Mint Cracknell, Novo, Nutty, Pretzel Flipz, Prize, Reward, Secret, Splicer, Texan, Coffee Walnut Whip, Yes cake bars, Yorkie Almond, Nutter, Peanut.

We are sorry to inform you that the products listed above have been withdrawn from our range due to the high cost of production and the relatively low level of sales. We would like to assure you that the decision to withdraw any product is reached only with great reluctance and we regret any disappointment this product's absence has caused you.

2. WHICH OF YOUR PRODUCTS ARE SUITABLE FOR RESTRICTED DIETS?

Nestlé UK provides lists of its products which are suitable for inclusion in diets that are restricted for medical or other reasons. The lists are correct at the date shown and are updated regularly. However, our policy of continuous improvement may result in a change so we recommend that you ALWAYS check the product label. Click here to view our FREE FROM lists.

Another section of the Nestlé UK website which you may find interesting is the Wellbeing section which gives lots of information on nutrition and health.

3. CAN I SUBMIT AN IDEA FOR A NEW PRODUCT/VARIANT TO AN EXISTING PRODUCT?

We are always pleased to hear new ideas for products or product variants. At Nestlé, we have a Research & Development team who work in partnership with the Marketing department and are solely responsible for testing and evaluating new product ideas all the time. Often people send us their suggestions for things we may have already tried. For every new product that reaches the market place, fifty or more will have failed to meet expectations somewhere during development. New products have to be carefully researched to ensure they have mass appeal, and the decision to introduce a new product is always based on the results of extensive market research. Unfortunately, for these reasons, we are not able to use any ideas from members of the public.

However, if you would still like to share your ideas with us, please email us at [email protected].

4. I AM DOING A PROJECT AT SCHOOL/UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE AND NEED SOME INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS/PRODUCTS.

As I am sure you will appreciate, we receive many requests for information from teachers, schoolchildren and students and, unfortunately, we are not always able to answer the varied specific points raised. There is a whole host of information available on our websites – use the following links, which we hope you will find useful.

To see the Nestlé annual reports, past and present, go to www.ir.nestle.com and browse for the correct information.

To find out about Marketing roles, go to www.nestle.co.uk/recruitment and look under 'business areas' or 'brand stories'. Some other information on Nestlé marketing projects can be accessed through the Times 100 Case Studies.

For information on individual brands, go to the About Our Brands section of the website. You can also find out more about Nestlé brands internationally.

You can also find out more information on Nestlé's heritage/history on this site to help you find out all about how Nestlé has arrived at the position it is in today.

Several of our brands have their own websites and there is a lot more information to be found on them:
www.nescafe.co.uk
www.kitkat.co.uk
www.buxtonwater.co.uk
www.nesquik.co.uk
www.perrier.com
www.smarties.co.uk

For further information on COFFEE, please have a look at the following websites
http://www.britishcoffeeassociation.org/
http://www.cosic.org/

Please don’t hesitate to call our FREEPHONE number 00800 637 85385 if you cannot find what you are looking for.

5. I HAVE BEEN ON HOLIDAY RECENTLY AND TRIED SOME OF YOUR PRODUCTS – AM I ABLE TO BUY THEM HERE IN THE UK OR IRELAND?

Unfortunately, many of our products that are available overseas are not available for sale in the United Kingdom or Ireland. Whilst sales do well in other countries, consumer research in this country often indicates that demand here would not be sufficient to warrant the long production runs necessary to ensure the good value that consumers require. Our experience with many brands leads us to conclude that tastes vary markedly between different countries. We will launch products in the UK and Ireland if our research indicates that these products will meet consumers' wishes and are likely to be successful.

6. ARE THE NESTLÉ PRODUCTS IN THE UK AND IRELAND ALL AVAILABLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES?

Unfortunately, many of our products are not at present exported abroad. Our experience of how our brands fare in various markets leads us to conclude that tastes can sometimes vary markedly between different countries. Because of this, you will need to contact the Nestlé office of that country to obtain information on individual products.

Contact information for all Nestlé companies in different countries can be accessed through http://www.nestle.com/.

Alternatively, you may like to try the following websites that provide British goods to consumers abroad:
www.expatboxes.com
http://www.englishteastore.com/nestle.html

7. I AM FEELING CREATIVE! DO YOU HAVE ANY RECIPES THAT I COULD USE?

Please check out the recipe section of our website. We are currently re–vamping this section of the site so if what you want is not there, please contact our Consumer Services team on 00800 637 85385.

For recipes using our Buitoni pasta products, go to http://www.buitoni.com/

If you cannot find the recipes that you want, do try contacting us via e–mail ([email protected]) or call our free–phone number on 00800 637 85385).

You can also access international recipes from around the Nestlé world through our parent company website (http://www.nestle.com/).

If you need to know how much water to add to Carnation Condensed Milk to make it up to full cream milk follow the instructions below;

For a 170g can of evaporated milk, the contents of this can may be mixed with ½ pint (250 ml) of cold water to give approximately ¾ pint (400 ml) of full cream milk.

For a 410g can of evaporated milk, the contents of the can may be mixed with 600ml of cold water to give approximately 1 litre of full cream milk.

Carnation is simply pure fresh British milk from which part of the water has been removed, so it is thick, creamy and delicious. No sugar, preservatives or colours are added and it is also rich in vitamin D. Carnation is extremely versatile in cooking and adds a creamy smooth texture to sweet and savoury dishes. It is exceptionally good when used in making sauces.

8. HOW DO YOU MAKE CHOCOLATE?

Chocolate is covered by the Cocoa and Chocolate Products Regulations 1976 and amendments thereof. These regulations lay down specific compositional requirements.

  1. Plain chocolate – any product obtained from cocoa nib, cocoa mass, cocoa, fat–reduced cocoa or any combination of these ingredients and sugar with or without added extracted cocoa butter.
  2. Milk chocolate – any product obtained from cocoa nib, cocoa mass, cocoa, fat–reduced cocoa or any combination of these ingredients and sugar, and from milk or milk solids, with or without added extracted cocoa butter.
  3. White chocolate – any product, white in appearance and containing no colouring matter, obtained from extracted cocoa butter, sugar, and milk or milk solids.

Other ingredients may be added at 'low' levels e.g. whey powder, vegetable fat, butterfat, emulsifiers (e.g. lecithin) and flavouring.

To begin we take the seeds of a cacoa tree, roast them and grind them up. Now the process of making the chocolate we eat can begin, and it takes a lot of talent.

Adding ingredients – The chocolate that we eat contains sugar, other flavors (like vanilla) and often milk (in milk chocolate). The chocolate maker adds these ingredients according to his or her secret recipe.
Conching – A special machine is used to massage the chocolate in order to blend the ingredients together and smooth it out. Conching can take anywhere from two to six days.
Tempering – Tempering is a carefully controlled heating process. According to this tempering is "a process where the chocolate is slowly heated, then slowly cooled, allowing the cocoa butter molecules to solidify in an orderly fashion." Without tempering, the chocolate does not harden properly or the cocoa butter separates out (as cream separates from milk).

These three steps, along with the blend of cocoa beans chosen at the start and the way they are roasted, are the art of chocolate making. The steps control the quality, taste and texture of the chocolate produced, and are often closely guarded secrets!

9. HOW DO YOU MAKE INSTANT COFFEE?

It is one thing having raw coffee, it now needs to be roasted, blended and then converted into a great cup of coffee. In their raw form, coffee beans are relatively odourless, tasteless and indigestible. The roasting process draws out and develops the vast array of aromas and flavour characteristics of coffee as we know it. The same bean can take on different characteristics depending on style and degree of roast. Depending on the degree of roast and the type of roasting equipment, roasting can take anything from 5–22 minutes. It is the same skill and art of the roaster which is vital in understanding how best to roast any particular bean variety or blend.

There are a number of different degrees of roasting, the most common being:
Light – which gives a mild taste, popular in the USA
Medium – for a medium stronger well–rounded flavour
Full – produces a rich, full–bodied, well developed aroma and flavour
High – adds a strong roasty and bitter flavour, favoured by the French and Brazilians

Most well known brands are made from a combination (or blend) of coffees which come from different countries of origin and may contain different degrees of roast. These commercial blends are formulated to produce a consistent taste and aroma.

The purpose of blending is to combine a variety of coffee flavour profiles (i.e. the aromatics of one coffee with the acidity of other and the body of another coffee). For example, a Colombian coffee with high acidity may be combined with a Brazilian coffee with heavier body and no acidity. This will balance the flavour retaining a good body.

You can find out more information on the Nescafé plan website about how coffee beans grow and are harvested and about the actual process of making instant coffee. In addition http://www.nescafe.co.uk/ has lots of information about coffee.

10. HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR DECAFFEINATED COFFEE?

NESCAFÉ Original, NESCAFÉ Gold Blend and NESCAFÉ Half Caff are prepared using the water extraction method. Here, water, rather than a chemical solvent is used to dissolve away the caffeine from the pre–roast coffee beans. After drying, the beans are blended and specially roasted to give the full flavour of Nescafe coffees. We can assure you that our decaffeinated coffees do not contain any substances that are not found naturally in coffee.

11. I WILL BE TRAVELLING TO THE UK OR IRELAND SOON AND HAVE BEEN USING YOUR BABY MILK. IS IT AVAILABLE IN THE UK OR IRELAND?

Please call our freephone number on 0800 783 8399, Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. Our trained advisers will be able to advise you on which baby–milks are available in the UK and Ireland.

12. WHAT IS Nestlé's RESPONSE TO SCAM EMAILS?

There have been cases of emails sent to individuals or organisations falsely purporting to be from Nestlé or a partner organisation of Nestlé. These are scam emails, and will sometimes ask you for personal information such as a password, user ID or even sums of money in return for more money or other benefits, such as winning a Nestlé competition or promotion.

These emails can look quite convincing, and may contain a Nestlé or Nestlé brand logo, or can come from an email address that looks as if it could be from Nestlé. In any case, these emails are false and are not at all associated with Nestlé itself or any partner organisations.

Nestlé does not ask for money or other information in return for winnings, prizes, job interviews, modelling assignments or any sort of registration. If you receive an email (or any other communication) which you are unsure about, we strongly suggest that you consider the authenticity before sending any reply. Nestlé further strongly suggests that you do not send money or any other information.

We would ask that you forward your email to [email protected] so that we are aware of these incidents and can take action where necessary. You may also inform or ask your internet service provider for advice.