I must admit, I’m often guilty of taking the easy route where it comes to snacks. Where Saajan is quite a good eater (touch wood!), Arjun is super fussy – though he loves his Organix oaty bars, you’ll often see him with a bag of Pom Bears in his hands as his go to snack!
Since Saajan now eats a range of toddler snacks, Arjun has slowly warmed to them too. There is a huge range of toddler and baby snacks available on the market – ranging in price and quality so we decided to take a deeper look as part of Organix junk busting campaign!
Organix is working with Cherry Healey from the BBC show Inside the Factory, who is joining the Junk busting mission to investigate baby finger foods and toddler snacks. Organix commissioned a survey to uncover parents attitudes to snacks for babies and toddlers, and find out what they think needs to change.*
They found:
• Number of ingredients: 76% of parents shocked to discover that some baby and toddler snacks contain up to 30 separate ingredients.
• Added salt: 85% of parents shocked to find some baby finger foods and toddler snacks contain almost the same level of salt as a regular bag of adult crisps. 82% shocked that extra salt is added to some baby and toddler snacks to boost the flavour.
• A quarter of parents (27%) admit to making a decision on whether to buy a food just by looking at the front of pack, despite the fact that 40% say they don’t trust the healthy food claims found there.
Their findings uncovered some alarming results and prompted us to take a closer look at what our kids are consuming through such accessible snacks. We’ve picked 4 different brands – all finger food savoury snacks as I tend to lean towards savoury over sweet for the boys.
I’ve decided to focus on packaging, number of ingredients including salt content versus value for money.
Here is a comparison table of the key information that I’m reviewing:
Packaging, salt content and ingredients
The Asda’s Little Angels Bear Puffs state that the contents are “organic, vegetarian, have added vitamin B and are quality approved by Mumsnet”. Though the ingredients at the back of the packet live up to Asda’s promise, I personally feel that the Mumsnet seal of approval could be a little misleading. When I see a stamp like that, I automatically assume it’s a unanimous (or at least a 90%) vote when infact, the Mumsnet Mum’s seal of approval is where the product scores an average of 70% or above. The seal of approval on these was given in 2016 and there is no mention of whether ingredients or flavours have changed since the approval was received.
The snack is made up of 7 ingredients, 5 if you combine the flavours, which in my opinion is quite low. They do not use hydrogenated fat and instead use High Oleic Sunflower Oil which is low in saturated fats increasing its nutritional credibility. There is also added vitamin B.
The Kiddylicious packaging states that the contents are “Gluten free, have no added preservatives and are vegetarian”. Though there are no added preservatives, there certainly is the addition of the unfamiliar ingredient of a firming agent called calcium chloride (the word chloride reminds me of a swimming pool!) – something that doesn’t sit right with me. When you do a quick search on Google, it tells you that this ingredient also includes salt content. This means that the salt shown on the nutritional information of the packet is not accurate misleading consumers and parents. This is also the only brand we researched that does not include vitamin B in their snack. And finally, this snack also includes sugar! I was pretty astonished to read that it includes sugar given its a savoury snack. The packaging promises a lot but if you read it carefully – it may not necessarily be the right promises to ensure a healthy snack – it isn’t organic, it has added salt (some of which is not even clearly declared), added sugar and there are no added vitamins. In addition, it has the highest number of ingredients at a whopping 12 and a total number of 8 if you were to combine flavours – way too many for my liking!
The Ella’s Kitchen packaging is simple in comparison to the above two brands – it simply promises that the contents are organic and it lives up to it’s promise – all ingredients are organic and I love that their list of ingredients includes an “other stuff” listing confirming that is 0%. Like the Asda brand, the Ella’s Kitchen puffs include 7 ingredients, 5 if you combine the flavours. They also have the added benefit of vitamin B. They include the lowest salt content out of all the products I reviewed at <0.1g making it an all round healthy snack.
The Organix packaging promises the contents are “organic, a no junk promise and nothing unnecessary is added”. It is by far the simplest list of ingredients at only 4 ingredients which are all recognisable. Again, they include vitamin B. The salt content is low at 0.1g. There is no presence of added preservatives, added salt or added sugar.
Taste test
Saajan and i both decided to do a taste test. With his low muscle tone, he sometimes struggles to grasp certain shapes – he definitely found the Ella’s Kitchen and Organix puffs easier to grasp than the other two brands.
He wasn’t keen at all on the Kiddylicious ones – I think perhaps as they’re quite dense in texture. He didn’t mind the Asda ones but I found them to be a little dry.
We both liked the Organix and Ella’s Kitchen brands – both tasted similar though the Organix ones tasted a little more flavoursome.
Value for money
Given the Kiddylicious brand has the highest number of ingredients and the highest salt content which doesn’t even factor in the added salt content of calcium chloride AND it’s the most expensive per gram at 5p, we definitely won’t be purchasing these again! They’re the least value for money and the least nutritional. It also doesn’t have the added nutritional benefit of vitamin B like the other brands.
The Asda’s Little Angels Bear Puffs and the Ella’s Kitchen Carrot + Parsnip Melty Puffs come in close – They both have 7 ingredients each, 5 if you combine the number of vegetable flavours. The Asda one’s include a higher salt content at 0.2g where as the Ella’s Kitchen one’s are trace. The Asda ones are 2p per gram and the Ella’s Kitchen are 2.5p – we’d lean towards the Ella’s Kitchen ones purely based on the fact that there is less salt and they taste more flavoured.
The Organix Carrot Sticks come in at 3.4p per gram which is middle of the road where it comes to price across the four brands, however for us this is the greatest value for money given the low salt content, fewest ingredients (4), the tastiest (close with Ella’s Kitchen but a little more flavoured) and their No Junk Promise which they’ve honoured. We also like that Organix lay out the percentages of ALL their ingredients where as the Asda and Kiddylicious brands were selective with which percentages they showed.
Have you compared the ingredients and nutritional value of your child’s favourite snacks? Have you had any alarming finds?
Here are some top tips to help with picking baby food:
1. Go for fewer ingredients.
2. Added ingredients: there’s no need for anything unnecessary, so avoid foods with added salt, sugar or flavourings.
3. Unrecognisable ingredients: go for simple ingredients – look at the back of the packet and choose something with simple ingredients – things that you recognise.
4. The organic logo – If you see an organic logo on pack you can feel sure what you buy has been made to the highest standards.
* Research was conducted by Opinium, February 2018, 1,000 UK parents of children aged 0 – 3 years.
#FoodYouCanTrust #NoJunkJourney
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in the form of remuneration or in exchange for a product or service. However all views expressed above are my own.
