Janny Vedder is our Nutrition Marketing Manager, responsible for nutrition-related marketing support for HOCHDORF customers in our Baby Care division. A former dietitian, Janny decided to specialise in infant and children's foods over thirty years ago and is now an expert in the field. We want to find out more about the challenges she faces in her work and why customers can rely on HOCHDORF and the production site in Switzerland when it comes to infant formula production.

What challenges do you face at work?

Janny Vedder: I am continually faced with three key issues. Firstly, that we adhere to legal requirements and high standards – no ifs or buts. The law is the basis for our infant formula and we work closely with the Regulatory Affairs department to this end. Secondly, we always have to identify the latest scientific trends, assess their potential and work with our development and production team to adapt our infant formula where necessary. And thirdly, we need to keep an eye on the competition. If we keep these three aspects in mind, we can incorporate new scientific trends and develop new formulations that meet the legal requirements. In addition to this, customers ask me all kinds of technical questions related to nutrition on a daily basis, which I am happy to answer, of course.

I love what I do; even when I am away on trips I can't help having a quick look in the infant formula aisle when I’m shopping.

How do you make sure that we don't miss any of the latest trends?

Janny Vedder: When it comes to medical products, the trends are quite slow to develop. But you still have to keep your eyes and ears open. So you will see me at all the nutrition conferences. I have worked for over 30 years in the industry and that provides me with a large network so I am in regular contact with paediatricians and nutrition consultants. I read a lot of academic articles and keep abreast with the opinions and attitudes of important nutritional organisations such as the WHO, UNICEF or ESPGHAN. I love what I do; even when I am away on trips I can't help having a quick look in the infant formula aisle when I’m shopping.

What is the most important thing to consider with regard to infant formula?

Janny Vedder: The most important question is and always will be: do the formulations meet the current legal requirements? But that is not enough in itself. For instance, we shouldn't use images of cute babies on infant formula products. Each packaging has to be designed in accordance with the relevant regulations. So a reference to “breast is best” should always be placed on infant formula packaging. The authorities have no tolerance for incorrect packaging. In the worst case scenario, the product would be recalled. In order to prevent this happening, we support our customers with packaging design.

Milk is the essential ingredient in our infant formula so it is key to the quality of the final product.

What’s makes infant formula produced in Switzerland stand out?

Janny Vedder: Clear, clean air, mountains, lakes and lush, green meadows as far as the eye can see – but above all – healthy cows. Switzerland has one of the strictest animal welfare laws and that is important for high-quality milk. As I like to say, small is beautiful. Compared to other European countries, Swiss farmers have small holdings with few animals. The cows spend a lot of time outside and many of them spend the summer in the Alpine mountains. Milk is the essential ingredient in our infant formula so it is key to the quality of the final product. Compared to the giants of the industry, HOCHDORF is also small but beautiful.

We provide our customers with a 360° service with continuous support and advice.

What can customers expect from our 360° service? 

Janny Vedder: Our service begins before sales. We explain the complexities of infant formula to any interested parties, present our wide range of products and provide samples. This helps customers to see the high quality of our infant formula for themselves. If a customer opts for our product, we take them through the registration process, provide support with packaging design and run through several monitoring processes as part of quality assurance. Once everything has been defined and clarified from the product side, I provide the customers with support on the commercial aspects specific to nutrition. So I train the sales personnel and the customer's distributors, create monographs and supply content for medical sales brochures. We also provide our customers with an excellent after-sales service. This makes for a 360° service with continuous support and advice, specifically tailored to customer requirements, of course. 

Why should customers opt for HOCHDORF as their infant formula provider?

Janny Vedder: The production country is unique. At HOCHDORF, everything comes from Switzerland and everything comes from one source. We offer very high product and service quality and we are always at the cutting edge of scientific research. We are a small company with fast processes and short communication channels. It only takes a few steps to reach CEO level. So we can make high-level decisions in a very short time. As I said before: small, but beautiful – and very fast too. I am a huge fan of HOCHDORF infant formula and can recommend HOCHDORF to anyone as a producer.

Janny Vedder, thank you for the insight into the exciting world of Baby Care.

Further information

• Article  "What makes Swiss milk so special"
• Article  "ESPGHAN 2018: Scientific trends in child nutrition"
• Article  "Our inspiration"