The UK Government have announced new guidelines for commercial baby food to reduce salt and sugar, along with clearer labelling to help parents make informed decisions.
Baby food manufacturers will be given 18 months to reduce sugar and salt levels in baby foods aimed at children up to 36 months old.
This will need to be achieved without the use of sweeteners as these are not permitted for use in commercial baby food.
Clearer labelling guidelines are also set to be introduced to help parents more easily understand what food they are buying for their children.
Obesity costs the NHS £11.4 billion a year and is one of the root causes of diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and obesity rates have doubled since the 1990s – including among children.
High sugar intake in children’s diets is a significant factor contributing to high rates of childhood obesity in the UK, which is among the highest in Western Europe.
The hope is that these new voluntary guidelines will support parents in making easier and healthy choices – and without having to change the products they buy.
The guidelines will also tackle misleading labelling that often conflicts with official feeding advice. For example, some products labelled as snacks for babies from seven months onwards directly contradict government’s recommendations that children 6-12 months do not need snacks between meals, only milk.
Manufacturers will also be told to stop using misleading marketing claims that make products appear healthier than they are; for example, products with labels such as “contains no nasties” -when products may be high in sugar.
The government has also joined forces with fitness coach Joe Wicks to help get children active over the summer through the launch of a new animated series, ‘Activate’, available on YouTube.
From January 2026, adverts for less-healthy products will be banned from being shown on TV before 9pm or at any time online, reducing children’s excessive exposure to many foods high in fat, sugar or salt. The government has also granted more powers to local authorities to ban fast food shops from setting up outside of schools.
