There is an urgent need to reduce misleading labelling and improve nutritional quality in Australia’s rapidly growing commercial baby and young child food market.
An analysis of foods sold in Australian supermarkets in 2022 for children aged 6 to 36 months found that they all failed to meet World Health Organization recommendations for product advertising on their labels.
Pouches are by far the worst offenders, making the most prohibited health and nutritional claims. This is a concern as pouches have experienced rapid growth in the infant and young child food market and currently account for more than half of all products in Australia.
The study, published in Nutrition of mother and childalso found that 78% of available foods do not meet WHO nutrient requirements, mainly due to excess energy and sugar.
Lead author Dr Elizabeth Dunford of the George Institute for Global Health in Australia says that excessive calorie consumption in early years in children leads to obesity later in life and that early introduction of heavily sweetened foods influences lifelong taste preferences.
“Time-strapped parents are looking for convenience, but most would be shocked by the industry’s misleading marketing tactics that suggest products are healthier than they are and are prevalent in this category,” she says.
“You would probably also be surprised to learn that there are currently very limited legal protections to protect children from advertising for unhealthy foods.”
The researchers evaluated 309 infant and young child food products in the George Institute’s FoodSwitch database using the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model (NPPM).
They found that more than a third of the products exceeded the recommended total sugar content.
None of the products met the NPPM’s “No Prohibited Claims” requirements on labels and other marketing materials. Prohibited claims include statements such as “free from colors and flavors,” “organic,” and “no added sugar.”
“We found that the average number of prohibited claims in this category is 5.6 – in one case we saw 21 different prohibited claims on a single product,” says Dunford.
Dr Daisy Coyle, dietitian and research fellow at the George Institute, adds that the use of health and nutritional claims and wellness messages on infant and young child formula is worrying.
“Such claims are often used in connection with unhealthy products and can contribute to a ‘health halo’ effect that makes consumers believe their product is healthy,” she says.
“And all too often we see products highlighting what they don’t contain, such as ‘no gluten’ or ‘no additives’, rather than what they do contain, such as high levels of added sugar.
“We know that these claims and messages influence what parents buy for infants and young children in the critical first years of life. The food industry is essentially laying the foundation for unhealthy eating later in life and this situation needs to be urgently regulated.
“We would like to see a more comprehensive approach to address the root causes of chronic disease in childhood. The long-term health of future generations depends on it.”
Australia and New Zealand use a common food labelling system overseen by food ministers. A public consultation on improving commercial foods for infants and children in Australia and New Zealand, which began earlier this month, closes on September 13.
