New findings from a BBC study show six of the UK’s leading baby food brands aren’t as good for your children as marketed – a reality parents will struggle to stomach.
High in vitamins, low in sugar and rich with nutritional value. Each of these promises have been pinned to a number of baby’s food pouches, however new research from a BBC investigation shows they couldn’t be further from the truth.
The research, which was published just this morning (Monday 28th April) and is otherwise known as The Truth About Baby Food Pouches, examined 18 pouches made by Heinz, Ella’s Kitchen, Aldi, Little Freddie, Lidl and Piccolo – names that have become a staple in thousands of households.
Despite their convenience and long shelf life, experts found these meals are exceptionally low in vitamin C and iron and some even exceed the daily sugar amount earmarked for one-year-old children.
To conduct the study, BBC Panorama commissioned the United Kingdom Accreditation Service where members of a laboratory tested a fruit, yoghurt and savoury pouch from each of the brands.
They found:
- Pouches being marketed for babies as young as four-months-old disregard recommendations set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UK Government
- One fruit pouch was discovered to have lost all of its vitamin C value during the manufacturing process
- Fruit pouches also advertised as having ‘no added sugar’ had around four teaspoons of so-called ‘free sugars’ which experts called ‘intentionally misleading’
- Savoury pouches, used by some families as replacement main meals, contained less than 5% of the key nutrients infants need each day
Part of these findings, which can be described as nothing short of bleak, come from a major investigation launched by experts at the University of Leeds. Here, scientists examined over 600 baby and toddler foods sold across the UK’s biggest supermarkets.
Upsettingly, yet unsurprisingly by this point, over 40% of main meals were found to have increasingly high sugar levels and over half of snacks contained added sugars. What’s more, these products were also discovered to be consistently cheaper making the sweetest options even more likely to end up in shopping baskets. Almost half of the parents involved in the study said they use these meals most of the time and four in 10 parents with babies under six months use them every day.
While these foods appear small, the consequences of frequently giving them to young children are huge. Particularly for their teeth. Eddie Crouch, chair of the British Dental Association (BDA), said: ‘Parents of infants are still being marketed products sugarier than Coke.
‘It shouldn’t take dentists naming and shaming the worst offenders to bring about needed change. Voluntary action has failed. We need government to step up and force industry to do the right thing.’
On the subject of change, market leaders of Ella’s Kitchen, Piccolo and Aldi have confirmed they will be changing their labelling to bring them in line with NHS guidance on not marketing products to infants under the age of six months. Likewise, leaders have agreed that pouches should never be given to children as a supplement to a main meal.
Though members of the BDA have said while this move is a ‘win’, the changes do nothing to reduce the levels of sugar in their products. With an aim to help, the public body are launching a petition to the Department of Health to double down in the fight on sugar, with mandatory regulation, and to build on tried and tested policies from both home and abroad.
Photo by hui sang via UnSplash
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