Industry supports advancing health in the Prevention Green Paper

In response to the publication of the ‘Advancing our Health: prevention in the 2020s’, Declan O’ Brien – Director General of the BSNA representing infant nutrition companies said:

“BSNA members support the Government’s vision to help all children get a good start in life. BSNA members are committed to making nutritious products and marketing and labelling them in a responsible way.

“BSNA members have been working with Public Health England to reformulate products to reduce the total sugar content. The majority of these products contain no added sugar or salt and are designed to meet the specific dietary requirements of infants up to three years of age.

“We support proposals to develop evidence based policies on the range of influences on childhood obesity. BSNA members also support efforts to improve breastfeeding rates in the UK and we welcome the re-introduction of an Infant Feeding Survey to better understand parents’ experiences of feeding their children.”

Notes to Editors

The British Specialist Nutrition Association represents the following companies: Danone Nutricia, Ella’s Kitchen, HiPP Organic, Kiddylicious, Nestle Nutrition and Organix.

The majority of commercially available infant food products contain no added sugar or salt, and the category has already undertaken extensive reformulation to reduce the total sugar content of products. These products can encourage healthy eating habits in young children, including supporting incremental dietary, flavour and texture diversification.

Between 7-9 months of age, commercial baby foods contributed only 15% of average daily total sugars in an infant’s diet. This declined to 6% from 12-18 months of age (The Diet and Nutrition Survey of Infants and Young Children, 2011 - DHSC and FSA).

Like for like, commercial baby foods, have a similar sugar content whether commercially produced or made at home. (Carstairs et al 2016)

Baby specific foods are already highly regulated as a separate category of foods, with numerous provisions that recognise the specific needs of infants from first weaning to 3 years of age, including their particular dietary requirements and the higher food safety standards necessary for this young age group.

Commercial baby foods are governed through EU regulations in particular Regulation (EU) No 609/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on food intended for infants and young children, food for special medical purposes, and total diet replacement for weight control and Commission Directive 2006/125/EC on processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children.

Parents should be supported to provide a balanced diet whatever form of food they give their children.