The baby food industry has been urged to clean up its act after a government review uncovered high sugar levels, misleading labelling and the encouragement of sweet snacking.
Published by government agency Public Health England (PHE), the report provides an evidence review of commercially available food and drinks aimed at children up to 36 months.
The report – ‘Foods and drinks aimed at infants and young children: evidence and opportunities for action’ – showed clear inconsistencies between national infant feeding advice and how some commercial baby food and drink products are presented.
In particular, it found that some foods marketed as healthy snacks are amongst those with the highest sugar content.
However, products perceived to be healthier were, in fact, amongst the most sugar laden. The highest average sugar levels are seen in fruit and vegetable-based (47.5g), and sweet finger foods (17.0g) per 100g.
The report found that snack foods are generally being encouraged, with snacking foods accounting for more than a third of the total market.
Growth in the finger food/snacking market – by 11% in 2017 to 2018 – indicates that these foods are increasingly considered an expected and appropriate part of an infant’s diet.
However, some sweet snacks can contain as much sugar as confectionery. For example, the highest sugar is found in processed dried fruit snacks which, PHE says, shouldn’t be marketed as suitable for children to eat between meals.
In terms of marketing and labelling, the report found that some product names don’t reflect the balance of ingredients, while others don’t always provide clear feeding instructions.
Moreover, misleading product labelling and marketing was found to encourage the introduction of solid food before official advice recommend.
Of the 1,120 baby food and drink products reviewed for the report, more than 1 in 4 (28.1%) are targeted at 4 month olds despite advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) that introducing solid foods should not happen until around 6 months of age.
The review recommends that both the food industry and the government improve the nutritional content of products.
It also calls for “clear, consistent and honest labelling” and marketing of products. Products high in sugars should be labelled as not being suitable for eating between meals.
The use of implied health claims should also be restricted on baby food products.
