Sarah Kanaan is the Head of NHW at Nestlé Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which owns and operates eighteen factories. Nestlé MENA provides direct employment to over 13,000 people and indirect employment to several thousand more.
Sarah started her career at Nestlé Middle East as a Market Nutritionist in 2013, then became NHW Manager in 2016 and is currently holding the position of Head of Nutrition, Health and Wellness for Nestlé Middle East and North Africa. In her role, Sarah is responsible to strengthen Nestlé’s NHW drive across all business categories such as Dairy, Food, Coffee, Nestlé Breakfast cereals, Nestlé Nutrition, Confectionery and Nestlé Health sciences; focusing on Innovation &Renovation for tastier and healthier products portfolio while ensuring responsible brand NHW communication and compliance to marketing to children policy.
Prior to joining Nestlé Middle East, Kanaan worked at the National Defense of Canada, managing health promotion programs, and at Dairy Farmers of Canada, overseeing early childhood programmes. She has also worked as an instructor at the Nutrition and Food Sciences Faculty at the American University of Beirut, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in infant and adult nutrition. She also served as a Clinical Dietitian specializing in diabetes at Dubai Health Authority.
Kanaan is a regular spokesperson on nutrition and has contributed a wide range of articles to a number of international magazines on hygiene, food safety, HACCP, nutrition during pregnancy, infant nutrition and other areas of public health.
Kanaan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition & Dietetics from the American University of Beirut and a Master’s Degree in Nutrition & Food Sciences from the University of Montreal, Canada.