More than ninety percent of the parents of the children interviewed are concerned about children's food safety
There are three major problems with "children's food": gimmicks are greater than substance, prices are too high, and ingredients are not scientific
Children's Day has arrived. E-commerce promotions are ongoing, and "children's food" is one of the best-selling categories. Children's soy sauce, infant low sodium salt, children's nutritional noodles, baby hawthorn strips... Are children's foods really healthy under the guise of being developed specifically for children?
A few days ago, a survey conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily (wenjuan.com) on 1334 parents with children aged 0-14 showed that 80.2% of the parents surveyed tend to buy products with the word "children's food" when buying food for their children. Gimmicks are greater than substance, excessive prices, and unscientific ingredients are the three major problems of "children's food".
Among the parents surveyed, 0.3% had children aged 33-1, 3.6% were 43-0 years old, 7.12% were 19-0 years old, and 13.14% were 4-9 years old.
At present, China does not have a precise definition of "children's food", and there is no special national food safety standard
Dong Huan, a two-year-old mother in Inner Mongolia, said that 90% of the food she buys for her children is "children's food". "In addition to fruit and yogurt, I often buy it in supermarkets, and I don't pay special attention to it, I try to buy other foods that children eat in mother and baby stores, such as small noodles and small wontons for staple foods, soy sauce and olive oil for seasonings, and puree for snacks."
Wei Yi works in an administrative agency in Xinxiang, Henan Province, and his child is currently in kindergarten. She usually buys food for her children, and pays great attention to whether there is a "children's food" logo, "In fact, I know that there are many products with the word 'children's food' on the market now, and the ingredients are not much different from adult ordinary food, but they will still 'spend money to buy a peace of mind'." ”
When buying food for their children, 80.2% of the parents surveyed tend to buy products with the word "children's food". Further analysis found that the proportion of parents whose children were aged 3-6 was the highest, at 83.8%, followed by parents whose children were aged 0-3 (82.6%), and parents whose children were aged 13-14 (56.9%) were relatively the lowest.
Zhu Yi, associate professor of the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural University, said that there is no precise definition of "children's food" in China, and there is no special national food safety standard. At present, only infant formula foods aged 0-36 months have national food safety standards. "At present, 'children's food' lacks special laws and regulations, and is in a regulatory blind spot." For the "children's food" in the market, Zhu Yi pointed out that this is actually just a concept and gimmick promoted by merchants, "for marketing considerations".
Talking about the behavior of many parents who look for the "children's food" logo when purchasing, she explained that according to the "Food Labeling Supervision and Administration Measures", it is actually not allowed to use the text or pattern of "children's food" on the food label, "The current 'children's food' is only made like children's food on the packaging, such as more cartoons." And because there is no strict regulation of whether this can be done at present, many businesses are playing on the sidelines."
There are three major problems with "children's food": gimmicks are greater than substance, prices are too high, and ingredients are not scientific
Lin Xin is a college teacher and a mother of two children. She told reporters that she is usually very concerned about children's food safety. "Children's physical functions are not fully developed, and their resistance is not high, so parents must worry more." Usually on the Internet, when he sees content related to children's food safety, Lin Xin will click in to take a look. "If anyone discusses it, I'll pay attention to it." The parents and friends around her are also more concerned about children's food safety, "everyone will talk together".
According to the survey, 91.8% of the parents interviewed are concerned about children's food safety.
"I always visit children's food stores, and the goods are much more expensive than in supermarkets. But I once specifically checked and compared the ingredient list, in fact, the ingredients in similar foods are similar. Dong Huan said that she can accept that the price of children's food is higher, but the quality matches the price. Some foods say 'children's food', but in fact, the ingredients are no different from ordinary adult food, 'hanging sheep's head to sell dog meat'. ”
Dong Huan feels that the ingredient list is not scientific and there are too many additives, which are also common problems in "children's food". "When my son was 6 months old, he started eating complementary foods, and I bought him a snack on dissolved beans, but then I found that white sugar and maltosaccharin were added to the ingredients, and I immediately threw them away." Children's food's quality varies. ”
She also pointed out that many "children's foods" do not have obvious age segments, and "I often rummage through the outer packaging a few times and can't find where to mark how old the product is suitable for children, which makes me very confused about whether to buy or not." I usually meet children a few times, advocating snacks that can only be eaten by children over 3 years old, and parents of babies over 1 year old will eat them."
What are the serious problems in children's food? The data shows that gimmicks are greater than substance in the first place (58.2%), followed by excessive prices (52.8%), unscientific ingredients or even harmful to health (46.1%), ingredients that are no different from ordinary food (40.9%), illegal addition of food additives (39.9%), and no clear age range (37.5%).
"The content of additives in children's food must be lower than that of adult food"
Wei Yi often buys in the "children's food" section of the supermarket. When choosing food, she tends to choose big brands and imported brands from overseas, and the less additives and preservatives, the better. "Like fruit puree and dairy products, if it is blended or the raw material is not raw milk, I will definitely not buy it." Wei Yi said that when parents get together, they will also discuss which foods children like to eat, are good for children's health, and recommend each other.
Dong Huan said that watching the children's food safety problems constantly exposed on the Internet made her more determined to buy through formal channels, "going to offline mother and baby stores or flagship stores on large online platforms." She likes to read some children's food-related evaluations, "They will compare similar products, from the safety of ingredients to the authenticity of the publicity, there are detailed and professional explanations." I often go to the corresponding evaluation when I want to buy something, and buy what the evaluation recommends."
When Dong Huan buys food for her children, she will focus on checking the ingredient list and nutrition facts list, "The ingredient list should be clean, and the simpler the things on it, the better." I will also look at the content of calcium, iron, zinc and other elements. Definitely don't buy foods that contain trans fatty acids and are too high in sodium."
For the content of food additives, Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng reminded parents that the additive content in children's food must be lower than that of adult food. When shopping for food for your child, give preference to big brands. "Especially listed enterprises have stronger scientific research strength, industry self-discipline, and a stronger sense of corporate responsibility."
In order to be able to choose nutritious and healthy food for their children, what do parents do? 67.9% of the interviewed parents will check the basic information such as production date and production license, 65.7% of the interviewed parents will buy from formal sales channels, 57.1% of the interviewed parents will carefully study the nutritional content and ingredient list, and others: buy well-known brands (46.6%), look up evaluation recommendations on the Internet (41.2%), and understand the word-of-mouth products among parents (29.5%).
Talking about the future of the "children's food" industry, Zhu Danpeng pointed out that the entire industry should enter the development of standardization, specialization and branding. "For children's food, the market cannot be allowed to grow wildly, and regulation must keep up." On the one hand, it is necessary to formulate a standard system for children's food, clarify food safety, nutritional addition, production technology and other standards according to categories, and provide compliance standards for the production of children's food. On the other hand, it is necessary to establish a children's food certification system and labeling system, introduce supervision measures for the production and sales of children's food, raise the entry threshold for children's food production and marketing, put an end to misleading marketing and publicity, standardize market competition, and guide the industry to enter the track of healthy development focusing on quality. ”
Among the parents of the children surveyed, 0.3% were aged 33-1, 3.6% were aged 43-0, 7.12% were aged 19-0, and 13.14% were aged 4-9.
Zhongqing Daily · Zhongqing Net reporter Du Yuanchun Intern Lilac Xueyu Source: China Youth Daily