Key Summary
- Manufacturers need to provide clearer labelling guidelines to help parents understand what food they are buying for their children
- The guidelines will also tackle misleading labelling that often conflicts with official feeding advice
- Manufacturers will also be told to cease using misleading marketing claims that make products appear healthier than they are
Baby food manufacturers have been given 18 months to reduce sugar and salt levels in baby foods aimed at children up to three years old.
The government has also asked the manufacturers to provide clearer labelling guidelines to help parents understand more easily what food they are buying for their children.
Businesses will have to change the recipes for their products to reduce levels of salt and sugar, without the use of sweeteners.
The guidelines will also tackle misleading labelling that often conflicts with official feeding advice.
Products labelled as snacks for babies from seven months onwards contradict government recommendations that children aged 6-12 months do not need snacks between meals, only milk.
Manufacturers will also be told to cease using misleading marketing claims that make products appear healthier than they are.
Some products have labels like “contains no nasties” - when products may be high in sugar.
High sugar intake in children’s diets is a significant factor contributing to high rates of childhood obesity in the UK.
The public health minister, Ashley Dalton, said the guidelines would help parents who were often “bombarded with confusing labels, disguising unhealthy foods packed with hidden sugars and salt”.
Child nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed said, "Feeding babies shouldn’t be a guessing game. As a child nutritionist, I’ve long called for clearer, evidence-based guidelines around the nutritional quality of commercial baby foods."
As part of its 10 Year Health Plan, the government had partnered with food retailers and manufacturers to set a new healthy food standard, helping to make the average shopping basket healthier for families.
Obesity costs the NHS £11.4 billion a year and is one of the root causes of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
