4 hours Ago By Alex Evans
Baby food pouches from major brands including Heinz, Aldi and Ella’s Kitchen are failing to meet key nutritional needs for babies and toddlers, a BBC Panorama investigation has found. The BBC ’s investigative journalism programme will tonight (Monday, April 28) broadcast a special on baby food pouches after laboratory testing of 18 pouches made by Ella’s Kitchen, Heinz, Piccolo, Little Freddie, Aldi and Lidl found many were low in nutritional value and some contained more than a daily allowance for sugar. Experts told the BBC that the products are not replacements for homemade meals and can cause children health problems if used as their main source of nutrition.
A lab approved by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service was commissioned by BBC ’s Panorama to independently test the nutritional value of a fruit, yoghurt and savoury pouch from each of the six leading brands. It found that savoury meal pouches used by many families as replacements for main meals contained less than 5% of key nutrient iron that an infant needs each day. In another finding, one fruit pouch had virtually no Vitamin C, while another marketed as ‘no added sugar’ in fact had four teaspoons of ‘free sugars’ which is blends of sugar.
Other products were marketed to babies as being from four months old, which violates NHS and World Health Organisation guidelines on only giving solid food to babies from six months old. The BBC reported: “Savoury pouches are often used by parents as a main meal - but of the six such products sent for laboratory testing, none could provide a significant contribution to the 7.8mg of iron an infant needs in a day.
“Of the four pouches that contained meat - known to be a good source of iron - Heinz's Sweet Potato, Chicken and Veggies contained the lowest, with just over 0.3mg of iron.” Ella’s Kitchen spag bol had just 0.
7mg of iron, while Aldi’s Bangers & Mash had just 0.5mg of iron and Lidl had 0.4mg of iron, the BBC found.
The recommended daily amount is 7.8mg. All the companies stressed to the BBC that they were committed to providing nutritious products for babies, and that their products were intended as a complementary part of a child's varied weaning diet.
Little Freddie added that its products were not intended to be meal replacements for one-year-olds. Panorama: The Truth about Baby food Pouches is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 8pm on Monday, April 28..
