Princess of Wales-backed luxury infant formula brand announces BIG change – as baby makers criticized for price gouging vulnerable parents

The baby food brand that the Princess of Wales used when Prince Louis was born is launching a cheap, ‘affordable’ version after criticism over costs.

The company behind the Kendamil Organic formula, which sells for £15 a pot – twice the price of some other brands – was accused of price gouging by experts last year.

By law, all baby food must contain the same nutritional composition, so cheaper options contain all the nutrients babies need.

That’s the concern: Kendamil maker Kendal Nutricare was singled out by the market watchdog after its profit margins more than quadrupled in two years.

Amid this criticism, the company today announced the launch of a new product, Bonya, which is among the cheapest at £8.45 per bathtub.

The move comes after reports of struggling parents struggling to buy formula, with some skipping meals to afford it or watering it down, putting babies’ health at risk.

Charity Sebby’s Corner, which supports struggling families in London and the South East, said requests for baby food have risen by 42 per cent this year.

According to the charity Unicef, three in four British babies are bottle-fed by the time they are six weeks old.

The baby food brand used by the Princess of Wales when Prince Louis was born is launching a cheap, ‘affordable’ version after criticism over costs

Kendamil estimates that around one in three formula-fed babies in the UK consumes its products.

The brand received a huge boost when it was announced that Catherine, The Princess of Wales chose it after Prince Louis was born in April 2018.

The new product will be available at Tesco and Sainsbury’s from Monday.

The price is almost £10 less per box than the most expensive formula on the market, Aptamil Advanced, which costs £18 for 800 grams.

It can also be bought with Healthy Start vouchers, a £8.50 weekly voucher from the government to help low-income parents feed their children.

The cheaper Aldi Mamia formula (€7.09 per 800g) and SMA Little Steps (€7.95 for 800g in most supermarkets) can also be purchased with the vouchers.

Markets watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has investigated the formula industry after prices rose by 25 per cent between 2021 and 2023.

Manufacturers have been accused by independent experts of ‘greedflatting’ – a price gouging tactic in which prices are artificially raised to maximize profits.

Industry experts have warned that profit margins on formula sold in Britain are among the highest in the food industry

According to the charity Unicef, three in four British babies are bottle-fed by the time they are six weeks old, but many parents struggle with high prices

The launch of Bonya comes ahead of the publication of the CMA’s interim report on its findings, which will be released shortly.

In an earlier report last year, the CMA warned that profit margins on formula sold in Britain are among the highest in the food industry.

It cited Kendamil as an example, highlighting how the company’s profit margin had increased from around four percent to almost 20 percent between the 2020 and 2022 financial years.

Net profit increased sixfold from £1 million to £6.7 million in the same period, the report said.

And between April 2023 and May 2024, while all other major UK powdered infant formula brands cut or kept their prices the same, Kendamil Organic’s price rose slightly from £14.75 to £15, according to an analysis by First Steps Nutrition, a charity organization for public health. To trust.

But the Kendamil Classic formula remained £12 for an 800g tin – cheaper than leading brands Aptamil and SMA.

The company insists it will use profits from its Kendamil brand to offer Bonya at a rock-bottom price, donating a box of Bonya to food banks for every ten boxes sold.

Bonya costs less to make because it is packaged in a box instead of a can and uses added milk fats as an ingredient instead of processing whole milk.

The formula is vegetarian, kosher and halal and does not contain the fish or palm oil found in some other brands.

But unlike Kendamil, the only formula brand made in Britain, Bonya will be manufactured in Europe and will not use British milk.

Co-founder Will McMahon said: ‘This is a groundbreaking low price for a formula product that parents can feel good about.

‘Families with low incomes are forced to buy cheaper formulas.

“We think this industry could do more (to help), so we are leading by example by trying to offer the best product at lower prices.”

Kendamil is investing £40 million in tripling the size of its factory so it can produce more formula, following several cases of shortages at the brand in recent months.

The CMA estimates that families can save more than £500 in a baby’s first year of life by buying cheaper formula.

But research has shown that parents are often forced to buy more expensive options because clever marketing portrays a particular formula as ‘better’ for babies – even though they are all nutritionally the same.

Dr. Vicky Sibson, director of First Steps Nutrition Trust, said the launch of cheaper products was a positive step.

Manufacturers have been accused by independent experts of ‘greedflatting’: artificially raising prices to maximize profits

She added that the composition of infant formulas was strictly controlled and that there was “a lack of evidence” that adding ingredients such as milk fats had health benefits.

“Parents may not want to buy products that contain palm oil, for example, for environmental reasons,” she said.

‘But infant formula is nutritionally complete, meaning every brand should have the same balance of things like fats, proteins and essential vitamins and minerals.

“These nutrients can come from a variety of sources, but all ingredients are heavily processed into similar constituent parts before being put together to make a formula.”