Reporter visit: there may be more ingredients; experts: there is no standard to follow, most of them are promotional gimmicks
Children's dumplings, children's soy sauce, children's cheese sticks, children's noodles... More and more parents will choose food with the word "child" in order to make their children eat healthier.
Is Children's Food Really Safer?
The reporter visited and found that many children's foods on the market are gimmicks by merchants, and many parents hope that relevant standards for children's food will be introduced as soon as possible.
Yangzi Evening News/Ziniu News reporter Jiang Jingyi
site visit
Parents are often attracted to packaging when buying, without researching ingredients
32-year-old Jiang Wei has a 6-year-old daughter. The family has put a lot of effort into her daughter's diet. Most of the food at home has the word "children" on it.
When asked if he had any research on children's food, Jiang Wei admitted that he did not. "I felt relieved when I saw the word "child".
There are not many parents like Jiang Wei. When they see the words or images of "children", they will add them to the shopping cart.
40-year-old Zhang Fan showed reporters his shopping cart, which already contained children's steaks, children's wontons, and children's pasta.
"When children see the cartoon characters on the packaging, they should buy them." Zhang Fan has reservations about the "healthier" food for children. "The packaging will confuse children, but because there is no clear standard for children's food, parents can't tell the difference."
The reporter saw in the frozen food section of a supermarket that Ms. Zhang, who was in her 60s, was picking out children's dumplings with her grandson.
"Children's dumpling packaging is more attractive to children, and it is suitable for children to eat at first sight," Ms. Zhang told reporters that she had bought it several times, "except that it is smaller and has a more interesting shape, it tastes similar to ordinary dumplings."
Cartoony in shape, but some "children's food" ingredients have more ingredients
The reporter saw in the supermarket that cartoon packaging + shaped dumplings have become the standard for "children's dumplings".
A children's dumpling is made into a "small cloud shape", the price is 29.9 yuan, the total weight is 270g, there are 36 dumplings in total, and each dumpling is only 7.5g on average.
The ingredients of the dumplings are wheat flour, black tiger shrimp, pork, drinking water, sweet corn, carrot juice, seaweed, walnut oil and glutinous rice flour, etc., which are not significantly different from the ingredients of ordinary dumplings.
In another freezer, the reporter saw various cartoon animal-shaped children's custard buns and fruit-shaped steamed buns.
Different from ordinary steamed buns, these children's steamed buns are brightly colored, and the ingredients include wheat flour, vegetable puree, white sugar, pure milk, yellow butter, eggs, drinking water, starch, yeast, edible lard, and cuttlefish juice.
Compared with ordinary steamed bread, the ingredients are much simpler, generally wheat flour, water, and yeast.
Through the comparison of the ingredient list, the reporter found that many children's milk has added more additives such as edible flavors in order to cater to the taste of children.
Market Supervision
There is no standard for children's food, parents should look at the ingredient list when purchasing
Are foods with the word "child" really safer?
Due to the lack of corresponding standards, it can only be managed according to the standard of ordinary food. "Many times, the nutritional content of 'children's food' is not much different from that of ordinary adult food. In order to meet the needs of children's taste, these foods contain more Food additives that optimize taste, such as sugar and flavors, not only cannot provide nutrition to children, but may also cause harm to children's bodies." The relevant staff of the Nanjing Yuhuatai District Market Supervision Bureau told reporters that there is currently no subdivided children's food standards. , the standard for infant milk powder also specifically refers to 36-month-old children.
Parents should check the ingredient list when purchasing children's food, and cannot blindly pursue the effect of advertising.
Generally speaking, the higher the ingredient list, the higher the content, and the shorter the ingredient list, the better. Try to choose foods with less salt, less sugar and less oil that do not contain trans fatty acids, or choose foods with high protein, low fat, and low sodium. .