Claims On Baby Food Over-Egg The Pudding

Baby and toddler foods often feature misleading claims
aimed at convincing parents the products are a healthy
choice, new research shows.

From
images of fruit to claims of being ‘sugar-free’, baby
foods often feature misleading claims aimed at convincing
parents the products are a healthy choice, new research
shows.

The study led by Waipapa Taumata Rau,
University of Auckland, reviewed packaging of more than 200
processed foods for infants and toddlers and found all
featured marketing and nutrition claims, which didn’t
necessarily stack up when they examined the ingredients. See
Nutrition
and Dietetics.

“These little packages are
cluttered with messages about why you should buy them,”
says Dr Sally Mackay, a senior lecturer in population
nutrition in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences.
“There are so many messages that it’s hard for carers to
know what is useful and what is
not.”

The average number of claims per
package was 7.5, ranging from three to 15. They were mainly
‘free from’ claims, for example, ‘free from
additives’, and marketing claims, e.g., ‘for growing
kids on the go’.

“This is an
overwhelmingly high number of claims. They don’t only try
to convince parents these products are a healthy choice,
they also try to convey that they are an easy and convenient
option that promotes the child’s development,” says Dr
Berit Follong, a postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of
Medical and Health Sciences at the University of
Auckland.

The researchers found that 60 percent* of
packaged infant and toddler foods had images of fruit and 40
percent had pictures of vegetables, but many had very small
amounts of those products in them. For example, a snack food
with ‘purple carrot’ in its name contained a miniscule
quantity of purple carrot juice and no actual
vegetable.

The study didn’t look at packaging of
infant formula.

While three out of five New Zealand
infant and toddler foods featured images of fruit on their
packaging, most of these contained processed fruit sugars,
while one in five contained less than five percent
fruit.

“Our findings are important because it’s
vital parents have accurate information, so they can make
informed choices,” Mackay says.

Follong says product
names can mislead about the nutrient content, too.

In
more than half of savoury meals, the name did not reflect
the descending order of their contents.

“If meat is
stated as the first component of the product name, this
implies the product is high in iron and protein but often it
is low. For example, a product called ‘Organic Beef and
Vege Ragout’ contains only ten percent beef, and
vegetables are the main ingredient,” Follong
says.

In Australia, recent research found only about a
quarter of packaged baby and toddler foods met WHO
nutritional guidelines. Nonetheless, they featured claims
trying to tell carers the foods were a healthy
choice.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand is
currently considering regulation of these claims, which the
researchers support.

“We think these claims are
misleading parents who want to do the best for their
children,” Mackay says.

They would like to see
claims banned on baby and toddler packaged foods and instead
only simple, accurate nutritional information to be
displayed.

Research has shown visual imagery of fruit
or vegetables on children’s snack food products enhance
carers’ perceptions of the healthiness of those
foods.

“To avoid misleading carers, it is important
that food companies’ use of this marketing technique on
baby and toddler foods is restricted to instances where
whole fruits and vegetables form a substantial part of the
product,” the authors say.

*Rounded to two
decimal places

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