Mini sausage chains in jars with brightly coloured labels, cool pirate snacks for in between meals, princess soup at lunchtime, ketchup for kids, quark squash and bear sausage on the breakfast table, breaded frozen fish in dinosaur form, "healthy" fruit dwarfs and tiger flakes and so on and so forth. In the vast majority of families, so-called children's foods find their way into the fridge and store cupboards. Children's foods have funny shapes and therefore look exciting. But do the little ones need such products?
Especially when small children regularly take part in family meals, many parents are tempted to serve their little ones special foods. Advertising promises for children's foods such as "an extra portion of milk" or "with valuable vitamins" are aimed at mums and dads, because ultimately they decide what to buy. Nevertheless, children, who experience the choice from the seat of the shopping trolley in the supermarket, also have a say here. Because their little eyes are drawn to eye-catching "child-friendly" packaging featuring all kinds of funny animals, Mickey Mouse, Kraftmeier, cute fairies and fantasy figures. A small but energetic index finger is then quickly extended in this direction, signalling unmistakably: I want that one! Otherwise there'll be theatre!
Naturally, parents want to feed their offspring as healthily as possible, and what sounds healthy at first seems to be good - right?
Let's get straight to the point: You don't need any special children's foods to give your child a healthy and balanced diet. Even foods that are enriched with vitamins or minerals, for example, are no substitute for healthy meals. I have given you here current recommendations on what is good for little eaters.
What are "children's foods" anyway?
A distinction must be made here: Products for infants between 1 and 3 years of age are often labelled "from 12 months". These foods (as well as infant formula) are subject to particularly strict protective regulations in accordance with the Dietary Guidelines. This concerns the guidelines for colourings and certain other ingredients, harmful substances or residues of pesticides and the like.
However, these products will be not go. Instead, I would like to take a look with you at children's products without an age recommendation. This is because "only" the general food law applies, i.e. none special (protective) regulations. There is also no binding definition of what constitutes a so-called "children's food". However, you can recognise them relatively easily if at least one of the following typical characteristics is present:
Eye-catching packaging: Colourful, cheerful, often also in animal form, the portion size is adapted to small children's hands and tummies. The illustrations on the packaging (animals, funny figures, etc.) also indicate that these products were created for children.
A special product name: You will often find the words "Kinder" or "Kids" and other designations on the packaging. These should also make it clear to you who this food is intended for.
"Healthy" promises: The marketing of children's foods is very creative here. For example, the lure of a "healthy snack", an "extra portion" of milk or "valuable" vitamins and minerals, good support for "building healthy bones" etc. is used as a lure. Some of these promises are also printed on the packaging.
Enclosures: Stickers, collectible pictures or toy figures in the pack are intended to create customer loyalty.
Addressing children directly: The adverts on television and the Internet are aimed directly at children.
That's why you should avoid infant formula
These tasty temptations often contain (too) much sugar, salt and/or fat. A look at the nutritional information on the packet provides information on this. Despite the labelled claim "no added sugar", the product may contain added fructose. So it is sugared after all!
For example, the non-profit organisation foodwatch, which is concerned with consumer rights and food quality, awarded the negative prize Golden cream puff in 2019 to the company Zwergenwiese for its product "Kinder-Tomatensauce Bio". It was advertised as "mildly tomatoey with apple sweetness". Most children love pasta with red sauce - and if it's also "organic", that doesn't sound too bad! However, this sauce actually contained 11 grams of sugar per 100 grams, which equates to around six sugar cubes per portion. By comparison, this company's pasta sauce for adults contains an average of just 4.6 grams of sugar. The company countered that no granulated sugar was added, only apple syrup. However, this consists of 60 to 801TP3 tonnes of sugar. And the World Health Organisation (WHO) also defines added sugar as that from fruit juice concentrates. Zwergenwiese has now apparently reduced the sugar content of its children's tomato sauce to 7.5 grams per 100 grams.
In addition, many children's foods are also highly processed. This means that the raw products used are processed (several times) for consumption, such as packet soup. In contrast, the general recommendation, even for adults, is to eat only unprocessed foods wherever possible. By the way: even the popular squeeze pouches with fruit puree contain a lot of industrial labour - and sugar! All parents know that lots of fruit and vegetables are important for the healthy development of children. But expensively pureed and processed in pouches to be sucked out is no alternative to real fruit and vegetables. What's more, they don't just swallow, they need to be chewed. This strengthens the chewing muscles, which ultimately also improves Language development promotes. This is because words can be pronounced much better with trained chewing muscles.
Even the manufacturer's advert "no added sugar" does not change the fact that squeezies contain fructose. This attacks the milk teeth if they are constantly surrounded by fruit puree or similar when sucking on the pouch. This can cause tooth decay. - Not to mention the amount of rubbish and plastic left behind by the countless squeeze pouches. Nevertheless, a bag is bound to end up in your shopping trolley from time to time. You should then regard this as an exceptionally permitted snack - but by no means as a source of vitamins.
With these examples, I would like to emphasise how important it is to keep your eyes open when looking at the nutritional information on the packaging and to critically question full-bodied advertising promises. My recommendation: Prepare food for your children yourself as often as possible. Tomato sauce, for example, is quick and easy to make yourself. Fresh fruit also tastes good pureed or in pieces in natural yoghurt or quark. And if you have to, you can easily conjure up a visually attractive bread topping from slices of cheese or sausage using biscuit cutters. Dare to experiment! Cookery books and the internet are full of ideas and recipes.
How does advertising for children's food work?
Children are particularly receptive to advertising messages and can be strongly influenced by them. The advertising industry capitalises on this and targets children directly on television and the internet. Around 90% of the relevant "advertising for children" is about sweets, snacks or fast food. This is despite the fact that since June 2021, manufacturers, retailers, advertisers and the media have made a voluntary commitment to advertising aimed directly at children under the age of 12 (the so-called "EU Pledge"). According to this pledge, it is not permitted to give the impression that this food is essential for a healthy lifestyle, nor may an unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle be shown.
True to the motto "well-intentioned is far from good", however, it has now become clear that these voluntary measures have hardly had any effect. Politicians are therefore now called upon to act in order to draw up binding guidelines and rules. Even if Federal Minister of Food Cem Özdemir wants to introduce a corresponding advertising ban on foods high in sugar, salt and fat, you parents are particularly in demand. After all, you have a direct say in what ends up in your shopping trolley and on the plate at the family table.
Here the Consumer advice centre The most important facts about children's food are summarised below:
- Children should come into contact with advertising for special children's products as little as possible.
- Breakfast should include bread or oatmeal and dairy products, but not sweet cereals.
- Yoghurts and other dairy products especially for children usually contain too much sugar. An alternative is natural yoghurt with fresh fruit, for example.
- Special sausages or meat and fish for children offer no advantages.
- Frozen foods such as vegetables or fish can be useful. On the other hand, packet soup or ready meals especially for children are not.
- Sweets are still sweets and are there to be savoured. Vitamins should be found in a balanced diet and not in sweets.
- The best thirst quencher for children is water, occasionally mixed with juice as a spritzer. Special children's drinks with sugar or sweeteners are superfluous.
