Baby food pouches from six leading brands are failing to meet the nutritional needs of babies and toddlers, a BBC investigation has found.
Eighteen pouches of baby food, made by Ella’s Kitchen, Heinz, Piccolo, Little Freddie, Aldi and Lidl, were found to be low in vitamin C and iron.
Some also contained more sugar than a one-year-old should have in a day.
A laboratory approved by the UK Accreditation Service was commissioned by Panorama to test the nutritional value of fruit, yoghurt and savoury pouch from each of the six brands.
Some savoury pouches contained less than 5 per cent of the iron an infant needs in a day, and some of them had high levels of sugar.
The tests also found that almost all the vitamin C had been lost during the manufacturing process. For example a “pure mango” pouch from Piccolo contained less than 0.1mg of vitamin C, while a fresh mango contains 18.2mg.
Experts told the BBC that the brands were misleading consumers and used “halo-marketing” to position their products as healthy, with labels such as “no added sugar”.
Piccolo, Aldi and Ella’s Kitchen all advertised food pouches to infants as young as four months, despite the NHS and the World Health Organisation recommending that babies should not be given solids until six months.
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When approached by the BBC, all of the brands said their products were intended as a complementary part of a child’s varied weaning diet.
The brands also said that they were committed to infant health and provided quality, nutritional products that meet British regulations.
On the subject of sugar, Piccolo said it developed “recipes that combine fruits with vegetables” to reduce sugar levels, while Ella’s Kitchen said that it had “a dedicated sugar reduction pathway for 2025” and that levels of sugar would be similar to homemade meals. Heinz, Aldi, Little Freddie and Lidl said their products contained “no added sugars”.
Regarding marketing, Piccolo and Little Freddie told the BBC their packaging accurately represented the key ingredients and flavours contained in their products, while Ella’s Kitchen said it “would never use” misleading claims. Heinz did not address the BBC’s questions on marketing.
On the low levels of iron, Little Freddie added that its products were not intended to be meal replacements for one-year-olds and Ella’s Kitchen said that its pouches should be used sparingly.
BBC Panorama: The Truth about Baby Food Pouches is available on iPlayer
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