Shocking Results In Search For Healthy Children’s Meals
A survey of 70 “children’s meals” available in restaurants, pubs or cafes, conducted by Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service and other Trading Standards Services in the Midlands region, revealed that 64 meals exceeded national guidelines, for fat, salt and sugar.
Trading Standards Officers visited restaurants, pubs and cafes across the region and purchased food which was then sampled and compared to the Food Standards Agency guidelines for fats saturates, sugar and salt levels. Results showed that 64 meals exceeded the Food Standards Agency Guidelines.
Mark Ryder, Head of Warwickshire Trading Standards said: “It may well be acceptable to occasionally treat our children to a special meal that is not entirely healthy in all respects, but when these meals are likely to be a regular source of nutrition it is of real concern that so many of the meals tested could not be classed as healthy food for our children to eat.
We at Warwickshire Trading Standards recognise that diet and nutrition are key factors in determining the risk of obesity, heart disease, strokes and cancer and therefore are promoting the healthy eating message in Primary schools with ‘Cyril the Seal’.”
The Food Standards Agency has developed a traffic light labelling scheme for prepacked foods. Red means high, amber medium and green low. So, if you see a red light on the front of the pack, you know the food is high in something we should be trying to cut down on, such as salt or fat. This traffic light system is voluntary and only applies to prepacked food sold in shops but not catering establishments.
91% of the meals surveyed exceeded the Food Standards Agency guidelines and fell into the red indicator category.
None of the meals surveyed were described as being healthy options, but were sampled as they were considered to represent a normal alternative to eating at home, and could not be classed as “special treats”.
The results of this survey show that the Food Standards Agency need to take account of this, there is little point in ensuring that consumers are well informed when they buy food for consumption at home, if when they eat out they have little or no information on which to base their purchasing decision.
The Eating Out market has grown by 7% over the past decade to £38bn. This growth is being driven by fundamental lifestyle changes. The UK’s 26,416 restaurants served 734 million meals last year, up from 721 million in 2004, at a value of £5.27bn*.
Reports of rapidly rising obesity, particularly among children, have been linked with fast food, diet and nutrition are key factors in increasing the risk of obesity, heart disease, strokes and cancer.
For more information about Cyril the Seal healthy eating initiative, visit our website http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/tsschools
Information for parents interested in healthy eating advice for their children is available from Food Standards Agency Website:
http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/children/
The Survey was conducted by Central England Trading Standards Authorities consisting of 14 authorities working in partnership consisting of: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke, Telford & Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire.
*Eating out information – source Mintel
Survey Summary
· Sampled meals at catering establishment’s meals marketed specifically at children.
· Assessed the fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt contents of these meals against the criteria developed for the Food Standards Agency “signposting scheme”.
· Concluded that meals marketed specifically to children were high in fat, saturated fat and salt and 91% of these were not “healthy” meals.