Almost a quarter of branded baby foods and snacks sold in UK supermarkets still contain excessive levels of sugar, despite government guidelines introduced a year ago to improve the nutritional quality of products aimed at infants.
An analysis of 224 branded infant foods found 58% breached at least one of nine voluntary industry guidelines, while a quarter breached two or more. The findings highlight continuing concerns over the nutritional content and marketing of baby food as manufacturers approach the deadline to comply with the Government’s recommendations.
The foods studied included purees, breakfast, main meals, desserts, snacks and finger foods made by nine of the UK’s leading brands Ella’s Kitchen, Heinz, Organix, HiPP, Kiddylicious, Little Freddie, Piccolo, Aptamil and Cow & Gate.
Accoring to a report in The Guardian, 51 (23%) contained too much sugar, including 52% of Kiddylicious’s products, 28% of Piccolo’s, 27% of Heinz’s, and 24% of Little Freddie products.
In the case of five products, more than 80% of the total calories were from sugar, including Organix raisins, which contained 66g sugar per 100g (86.6% kcal from sugars) and Kiddylicious apple fruit wriggles, which contained 70g sugar per 100g (85.6% sugars).
The NHS recommends that babies under one consume less than 1g of salt a day, but the analysis found about 6% of foods, 14 products, breached those limits, with Heinz spaghetti bolognese pouches containing 0.27g of salt, more than a quarter of an infant’s entire daily allowance in one meal.
In all, 19% of Kiddylicious’s products, 18% of HiPP’s, 13% of Heinz’s and 6% of Cow & Gate’s breached OHID’s salt and sodium guidelines.
Labelling and marketing breaches were found in 28% of products, including 31 snacks marketed at children as young as six months old, while labels on others made misleading health claims.
The Guardian quoted Nora Cavani, the chief executive and co-founder of Alba Health, as saying, “Parents are not failing their children; they are being misled. Products that contain more sugar than a child should consume in a day are sold under the banner of health and nature. A year on from the guidelines’ introduction, the data shows voluntary standards haven’t worked.”
Sonia Pombo, the head of research and impact at Action on Salt and Sugar, said it was striking that there were problems among brands that positioned themselves as organic or healthy.
“Parents should be able to trust that the name and imagery on the front of a pack accurately reflect what is inside, yet when a product is promoted using an appealing fruit or vegetable despite not being the main ingredient, it risks misleading parents,” she said.
“With only six months until the February 2027 compliance deadline, voluntary action is clearly not delivering quickly enough. If the government is serious about protecting babies and young children, these guidelines should be made mandatory and properly enforced.”