Parents urge clear labelling of salt, sugar

A PARENTS’ group says children’s pre-packed lunch box favourites must have clearer nutritional labelling showing levels of salt and sugar in them.

Independent consumer watchdog Which? found that adding two products to a lunch box could provide 25% of the recommended sugar intake and more than half the salt intake for a five-year-old.

It also found that eight out of 10 parents who gave their child a packed lunch included prepackaged items.

Executive director of Which? Richard Lloyd, said the products might seem like handy fillers for a child’s lunch box, but they could be bad for their health and their parents’ wallet.

“You’re better off making your own children’s lunches or giving them school dinners which are more nutritionally balanced,” he said.

National Parents Council Primary chief executive Áine Lynch said labelling had to be clear to reduce the risk of childhood obesity.

“Drink and cigarettes carry warnings that they will damage your health but there isn’t the same attention given to food products.

“Some food products appear to be healthy alternatives when, in fact, they’re not.”

Labelling should show clearly that a product was a healthy option because of the combination of its contents, not just one or two.

“We have been told that obesity is the biggest threat to health for children growing up now and the same integrity needs to be put into the labelling of food,” she said.

Ms Lynch said traffic light labelling was acceptable if it was saying green was healthy and red was unhealthy after an overall assessment of the product.

Seven out of 10 of the 1,000 parents surveyed by Which? said they would like to see “traffic light labelling on food products with red to signify high levels of salt, sugar and fat, amber for medium and green for low”.

The research found that a pack of Dairylea Lunchables Ham ‘n’ cheese Crackers has 1.8g salt, over half of the recommended daily level for a five-year-old.

A 200ml bottle of blackcurrant and apple Robinsons Fruit Shoot drink has 22g of sugar — a quarter of the maximum amount for a five to 10-year-old.

Other items assessed by Which? included a Kellogg’s Coco Pops snack bar, which has 8g of sugar, and Fruit Factory Fruit Strings, which have 9.6g of sugar per 20g serving.

Nutritionist Elsa Jones agreed there should be more nutritional labelling but that teaspoons rather than grams should be used to indicate sugar content.

“That would really hammer the message home to parents,” she said.

A Britvic spokesperson said the Fruit Shoot Range included regular and low-sugar options.

A spokesman for Kraft Foods, which makes Dairylea Lunchables, said the nutritional information was clearly printed on packs to help all parents make informed choices.