Yoghurt, real fruit, 1 of your 5 a day. All phrases used to describe children's fruit snacks 'ideal for lunch boxes'. Parents choosing these items would think it was a healthy, nutritious alternative to the fruit flavoured, sugar filled sweets that children are drawn to. Little do they know from the packaging and marketing of these products, they are filled with even more sugar than Haribo sweets!
An article I came across on the Telegraph website talks about how 'Action on Sugar' has discovered that many apparently healthy fruit snacks contain at least 4tsp of sugar!
More than three quarters of the products examined by health charity Action on Sugar exceeded the 47g per 100g of sugar found in Haribo Starmix.
Packs of raisins and strawberry pieces coated in yoghurt can contain the equivalent of more than four teaspoonfuls of sugar, the study found.
Some of the packaging claimed the fruit was "one of your five" portions of fruit and vegetables a day, which Action on Sugar said was "misleading".
The majority of people would assume that raisins and strawberry pieces coated in yoghurt would be healthy, after all, those items on their own wouldn't be seen as unhealthy, sugary snacks.
Frootz Apple 100 per cent Fruit Drops has 62.7g of sugar per 100g and The Fruit Factory Strawberry & Yoghurt Fruit Bars contain 58g of sugar per 100g.
"Whole, unprocessed fruit is healthier than processed fruit snacks and fruit juice drinks, as it contains vitamins, minerals, water and fibre, and does not cause the devastating tooth decay we see in young children today."
In total, 94 products were surveyed from UK retailers including Tesco, Waitrose and Asda, with several products saying they were "suitable for lunchboxes".
But school food standards do not currently allow these snacks to be offered to children, as they are categorised as confectionery.
Around 34 per cent of girls and 33 per cent of boys aged 11 to 15 are currently overweight or obese, according to the survey.
When parents are choosing packed lunch items for their children and they see claims such as '100% fruit' or 'packed with real fruit goodness', they don't expect the product to be laced with added sugars and additives. Although most people should know that fresh fruit is clearly the better choice over any processed food, pre-packaged fruit snacks are much more convenient and they know that children are more likely to eat something in a colourful packet with fun characters on the front than they are a real apple, for example. A lot of parents struggle to get their children to eat fresh fruit and vegetables and so they see these products as a great alternative. The products should be labelled clearly so as not to mislead consumers.
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