Information confrontations around cooking broths in Africa ·Global Voices

The different human societies are characterized by various identity imprints, in particular culinary specificities. Beyond originality, spices and other flavorings have given rise to vast business ideas, particularly that of culinary aids, including cooking broths, which for a little over 123 years have been particularly successful with African and Arab housewives. African cuisine, an essential pillar of Ebony cultures, in particular, has integrated commercial broths or seasoning cubes into its processes to the point of becoming an institution. This influence is not without collateral effects for the producers of these broths because a real war of information by the content takes place on this important African market first between producers then with nutritionists, defenders of consumer rights and even governments. What are the stakes of this “informational war” around broths in Africa? How Multinationals and Local Companies fight to keep market share? What are the strategies put in place by health professionals, consumer associations and certain States to discourage the consumption of broths?

Broth: a highly competitive product

The brainchild of the Swiss Julius Maggi, commercial broth was introduced to Africa during colonization and enjoyed dazzling success in African cuisines, making this segment of flavor enhancers a highly competitive market. Maggi, the king of African kitchens challenged by Jumbo since 1978 for many years was quickly joined by more than twenty competitors such as Joker, Adja, Jongué, Doli, Dior, Tak, Mami, Maxigoût, Africube, kadi, knorr . who are fighting a tough battle with very offensive informational content both in the media and in the non-media. More than 20 billion seasoning cubes are sold each year in Africa for a market of around 1 billion euros, with more than twenty local and international brands competing, all of which try to remain local. to conquer the hearts of African cooks.

From point-of-sale advertisements (POS, to 60 m² advertising media, including sponsorship, magazine covers, charitable actions, reality TV productions, and branding, players in the broth market fought a merciless battle. From a low-intensity confrontation between Nestlé owner of Maggi and Gallina Blanca star owner of Jumbo, precursors and market leaders, things went very quickly with the arrival of new players who do not didn't give up.

The competitive battle for control of the market

The various players have propagated very incisive commercial slogans towards each other. Thus, from the base broth, we have witnessed a flowering of broth flavors for which the Research and Development (R&D) teams of manufacturers in the segment are constantly competing in creativity. To date, nearly a dozen flavors have been recorded, namely: poultry, fish, shrimp, vegetables, beef, defatted, even with vitamin A, each of the industries tries to show originality in order to release the first, a product of which he will pride himself on being the precursor in his communication. In terms of communication, a merciless information struggle for control of the media and non-media.

In terms of media, multinationals such as Maggi and Jumbo carve out the lion's share of television through commercials, the production of cooking shows, sponsorship of "novelas" TV and reality TV or events such as national beauty pageants, etc. local firms are trying to make themselves heard on local radio stations, in particular where license fees seem to be under control. Non-media exclusively under the influence of multinationals, in particular with billboards because they are backed by events, a key vector for the promotion of seasoning cubes. In display, we must assimilate the struggle for control of the branding of markets and shops, which generally offer enormous visibility. Finally ? The third element of information warfare is content relating to the brand name or advertising slogan. Many industries baptize their cubes with local colors, in particular women's names such as Adja, Mami, Khadija, Dior, Mamita, Kadi or names such as Joker, Jongué, Tem tem, Tak, Akadi, Doli in order to obtain sympathy through the vector of the appellation.

Local industries generally try to advocate national or local preference and are differentiated by the quality and diversity of commercial slogans. From the traditional "Maggi, the secret of good cooking" to "Kadi Akadi" that is to say Kadi with good taste in Malinké, passing by "the main thing is Doli" or "With Jumbo Superior go to the superior taste »the messages have been strongly adapted to the taste of the times and of the target companies. On the battlefield of bouillon cubes in Africa, 2 international brands come out on top with more than 60% market share, followed by Doli and Adja who are trying to hold their own with around 25% combined and finally knorr and their twenties. he local brands are vying for the remainder of the very active market for this type of flavor enhancer.

Although the broth market is very dynamic in Africa, it has nevertheless been relatively slow in recent years due to exogenous factors.

The reaction of African civil society

Indeed, beyond the fierce competition between producers of industrial bouillon cubes, many voices have engaged in information conflict in order to discourage the consumption of “culinary sesame”. Many scientific and medical publications reveal through consumer sites or learned society reviews that flavor enhancers are harmful. The main ingredient decried is Monosodium Glutamate, the concentration of which in industrial seasoning cubes exaggeratedly exceeds the tolerated proportions of 6 grams daily in sodium intake. Learned cardiology and urology societies are constantly pointing the finger industrial broths as a source of cardiovascular diseases: arterial hypertension, obesity, diabetes, diseases of the genital sphere: sexual disorders, inflammation of the prostate, gastric diseases: colopathy and even psychiatric diseases including behavioral disorders and Parkinson's disease.

The controversy over public health issues

The World Health Organization (WHO) has even gone further by indexing the sodium content and certain highly allergenic components of these broths, which are believed to be the cause of non-epidemic diseases, in particular strokes, and certain cancers. . At this high-intensity offensive, manufacturers such as Maggi, Africube, Knorr and many others have taken out the organic or defatted broth menu and started communication claiming to be concerned about the well-being of their consumers. Jumbo has even gone further by launching vitamin A broth to position itself as a public health player in Africa in the face of the African endemic vitamin A deficiency. opened a new front arguing that organic broths and defatted cubes were no less harmful to the health of users. On many websites and through many TV or radio productions, under the label of consumers or civil society; numbers of voices, supporting comparative tables have cried out loud and clear that industrial broths, although organic or defatted, are not good for your health. Consumers provided with data on the declarations of manufacturers indicate that the differences between traditional industrial broths and so-called defatted or organic broths are slight and call for vigilance because the concentrates of additives in salts, sugars and fats remain as dangerous as ever. . They invite consumers to remain vigilant in their choices and not to let themselves be "deceived" by manufacturers who use cheats to hide harmful products in the regulatory tables of nutritional declarations to which they are bound.

The ambiguous attitude of certain manufacturers

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A good number of manufacturers therefore use numbers, letters, and often abbreviations and very often in very small characters to indicate the presence of these "death agents" in their broths. Consumer associations, nutritionists, civil society organizations, learned medical societies and even the WHO claim that even stamped organic, defatted or vegetable broths leave very little room for vegetables and other supporters of natural and traditional tastes. such as “geudj or adjovan” dried salted fish with a very pronounced aroma and taste, crushed shrimp “zonzon”, ground crab, malinké somara and Nigerian gabou.

To these alternatives it is also advisable to use domestic preparations based on aromatic plants, natural spices such as cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon and natural ingredients such as garlic, parsley, bay leaf and even homemade broths made from meat, fish and shrimp. To take official health recommendations into account, add salt in proportions of less than 5 grams per day. So many healthy alternatives that could turn the page on the more than 100 glorious broths in Africa if not "drastically break its devastating momentum".

The mobilization of consumer rights defenders

These civil society actors do not want to miss any opportunity to denounce the broth industries and remain on the lookout for the slightest flaws, particularly in terms of information warfare where every detail counts in this merciless confrontation, c This is how Nestlé was pinned down in Nigeria for an advertisement deemed too sexist. Aware of this reality, the broth manufacturers have launched the weapon of decision to all this argument by positioning themselves as kings of African cuisines but above all by highlighting its accessibility through its "fast, practical, simmered taste and above all the cost ".

By positioning itself as a miracle product, the industrial broth solves both the question of the endless hours of preparation and the thorny question of purchasing power in an emerging Africa where time and price largely determine the household purchasing decision. For comparison, the kilo of "Adjovan" offered as an alternative to the industrial cube costs 7000 FCFA or 3 kilos of meat when the seasoning cube costs 25 FCFA per 10 gram unit.

To the accusations of "vehicles of death" from Industrialists such as the Swiss group Nestlé responds on its site that the ingredients used for the production of its broths are regulatory condiments and that Maggi broths are better rigorous quality control with more than 400 quality checks. It's the same story with Patisen, owner of the Adja brand, which also asserts on its site that, contrary to popular belief, only abuse harms, broths do not contain any ingredients harmful to health. of nicotine is seriously harmful to health, the culinary broth industries in turn indicate that one should just not eat too fatty, too salty, too spicy or too sweet.

Some states are trying to resist the steamroller of the consumer society

Consumption of seasoning cubes continues to grow despite the real dangers associated with their use. Competition is fierce in the ranks of manufacturers who each seek to maintain and even take market share in this marginal growth through a high-intensity information war by diversifying the offer, the message and the vectors. This market, which seems to be experiencing an abnormal increase because without any regulation by the majority of African public authorities, is explained by the strength of powerful food industry lobbies which watch over their interests like milk on the fire without taking into account major public health risks. incurred by African populations.

Despite the strength of these lobbies, a State like Senegal, although being one of the largest African markets for industrial broth, tries to position itself as a forerunner of regulations in this area. Thus since 2017 Senegal imposes "officially" a limit of 55% in sodium content, it is a step but when we know Africa with the dilapidation of its control offices, their insufficiencies, corruption we remain skeptical as for the respect of these regulatory instructions.

This has certainly prompted Senegal to push its intervention in the broth market a little further by introducing an amending provision to the 2021 finance law with a 25% increase in the taxation of cooking broths. The big question at the end of this publication is whether the regulatory measures for the composition of broths and the tax measures taken by the Senegalese government will one day be able to be generalized to all African countries in order to reduce risks and reduce the consumption of these kings of African cuisine?

Moustapha DIABY-KASSAMBA

MSIE Listener 37

School of Economic Warfare