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1 REGULATION OF BABY FOOD COMMERCIALIZATION , INDUSTRY STRATEGY AND BREAST FEEDING 1

Baby food commercialization is regulated in Brazil by the Brazilian Norm for Baby Food Commercialization (NBCAL) since 1989, inspired by the 1981 International Code for Commercialization of Breastfeeding Substitutes. The main purpose of this regulation is to protect babies’ health by stimulating breastfeeding. The norm assumes that marketing and advertising strategies adopted by the world food industry have induced industrialized baby food substitution for natural breastfeeding. In order to enforce the international norm, non-governmental organizations have monitored baby-food industry strategies, frequently threatening the reputation of large international companies. There has been a strong conflict between companies on one hand, and Government and NGOs on the other, regarding monitoring systems in Brazil and worldwide. This paper addresses the issue of adopting, adapting, and enforcing the norm in the Brazilian reality. It provides an illustrative case-study of how national institutional and economic environments limit the efficacy of a regulation conceived internationally. The important question is: how NBCAL has affected baby-food industry competition strategies and which concrete results has been achieved. The article makes use of three sources of information. The first is a broad survey that sought to identify the situation of breastfeeding in Brazil and the level of knowledge of the players about NBCAL. This research was conducted, at a national level, at the beginning of 2000, in about 150 municipalities, involving eight players, including mothers, potential mothers, pregnant women, relatives, doctors, nutritionists, nurses, supermarkets, and pharmacies, adding up to a total of 2600 interviews. The second is an empirical research on the Brazilian institutional and economic environment that has set the framework for the strategies of the Government, NGOs and firms mentioned above. This research was based on in-depth interviews on the comprehension and knowledge of NBCAL and on the monitoring systems. Finally, the third is an analysis of the fulfillment of the NBCAL by the baby-food industry companies with respect to the labeling of baby food produced by the 5 firms that participated in the market in 1999 and with respect to the magazine advertisements geared to the female population in circulation in 1998 and 1999. The paper begins with a short discussion of why to regulate baby-food industry strategy. It examines what reasons economic theory can provide, and what the effectiveness of the regulation would be. Then, it presents the results of the research on the obedience to the Norm, its effectiveness and the conflict within the regulatory environment.