Food for babies and toddlers should support good health and nutrition, but in Australia many do not. In fact, 72% of these products in Australia fail to meet international nutritional standards for sugar, sweetness, salt, energy density, protein and fat.
Our kids deserve better.
There are currently no limits in Australia on how much sugar can be added to baby and toddler foods and no rules for how sweet they can be.
fail to meet World Health Organization recommendations for sugar and sweetness*
contain sugars from concentrated fruit ingredients
have an image of fruit on the packaging
*This includes restrictions on the use of concentrated fruit ingredients which are high in sugar
There are rules for how much sodium (salt) can be in baby foods, but none for toddler foods. This means the processed food industry can add what they want. As a result, toddler foods are twice as likely to exceed the World Health Organization recommendations for sodium than baby foods. The Australian and New Zealand Infant and Toddler Feeding Guidelines advise that foods with added salt are unsuitable for infants and young children and should be avoided. Early food experiences can influence long-term dietary preferences and habits, with studies suggesting that early and repeated exposure to salty flavours influences children's preferences.
Added sugars don't belong in foods for babies and toddlers. Yet in Australia, baby and toddler foods are often highly processed and full of sugar and sweetness. Often this comes from concentrated fruit ingredients that are high in sugar.
The processed food industry knows that when people see the word ‘fruit’ they think ‘health’. So, they plaster it all over the packaging of baby and toddler foods to mislead parents, and it works. Three-quarters of Australian parents say they are more likely to choose kids’ food with a fruit image on the pack.
But the ‘fruit’ that is in many of these products is nothing like real, whole fruit, and is more likely to be a sticky, sugary paste or concentrate, extracted from fruit but without all the same goodness.
Watch how this is done to a wholesome apple.
Read our position
Nine in ten Australia parents think there should be laws to limit the amount of sugar and salt in baby and toddler foods. And so do we!
Our Kids are sweet enough campaign is calling on the Australian Government to protect baby and toddlers’ health, now and for their future by making sure foods for babies and toddlers meet international standards for nutrition.
That means:
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Food for Health Alliance acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live and work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.