Henry Nestle: The Father of Infant Formula and Founder of Nestle Company2 photos

Henry Nestle was born on August 10, 1814, as the eleventh child in a family of a Frankfurt glassmaker. During his studies, he gained knowledge not only from scientific books but also through practical experience—while learning pharmacy, he changed several jobs. After graduating at 25, he settled in the Swiss town of Vevey and worked in a pharmacy. There, for four years, he mixed powders and sold lozenges while dreaming of starting his own business. In 1843, using money borrowed from his aunt in Frankfurt, he purchased a small processing plant that included a factory, warehouses, fields, a sawmill, and equipment for processing bones and producing vegetable oil. He initially produced fruit liqueurs and vinegar, later adding soda water and lemonade. Eventually, he experimented with various ingredients to create a new infant formula.

The experienced pharmacist and chemist Henry Nestle began experimenting with cow's milk, wheat flour, and sugar in the 1860s. In 1867, he developed a ready-to-use milk powder for infants called Farine Lactue Henri Nestle—a powder that dissolved easily in water. The first user of this new formula was a newborn baby of one of Nestle's employees. Since neither maternal nor cow's milk was suitable for the baby, Nestle's powder saved the infant's life. This product was an immediate success and quickly became widely used around the world.

As Nestle's business expanded, it began managing factories in the United States, England, Germany, and Spain. It also introduced other products such as condensed milk and milk chocolate. By the time of World War I, the company was producing a range of soluble foods, including the popular Milo children's drink.