The government has been called on by health campaigners to clamp down on “misleading” nutrition claims across a range of baby food pouches.
This comes as research on almost 100 baby and toddler breakfast pouches by Action on Sugar found that some contain up to four teaspoons of sugar, including Ella’s Kitchen Banana, Apple & Blueberry Baby Rice with 14.5g of sugar per pouch.
The brand’s Banana Baby Brekkie also contained 13.6g of sugar per pouch, while its Bananas, Apricots and Baby Rice was found to have 13.5g.
Of the products surveyed, all had packaging featuring nutrition or health claims while 86% claimed to use “no added sugar” or “only naturally occurring sugars”.
However, many were adding sugar from fruit or vegetable juices, concentrates, purees and powders.
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While Heinz By Nature Creamed Porridge claimed to use “only natural ingredients” and “sugar from a natural source”, Action on Sugar found it contained plain sugar.
As a poll by the health charity found 87% of 1,004 parents would find it helpful to see added sugar in baby food displayed on packaging, Action on Sugar is now calling for the removal of “misleading” health claims on these products.
“It’s a scandal that certain food companies are being allowed to peddle their high-sugar products to parents with very young children despite being aware that babies and toddlers shouldn’t be having any added sugar at all,” Queen Mary University of London professor of cardiovascular medicine and Action on Sugar chairman, Graham MacGregor said.
“An unhealthy diet high in saturated fat, salt and sugar and low in fruit and vegetables is the biggest cause of death and disability globally and costs the UK alone more than £100 billion annually.”
He added: “Our children should not have to suffer unnecessarily from this. Manufacturers should act responsibly and commit to reducing sugar, salt and calories instead of foisting unhealthy products with misleading nutrition claims upon well-meaning parents.”
This comes following research in July by the British Dental Association which found that over a quarter of many popular baby food pouches contain the equivalent of up to 150% of the sugar levels of Coca-Cola and saw ‘obscene amounts’ of sugar content at a time when tooth decay is the number one reason for hospital admissions among young children.
