Baby Foods: Nutrition and Marketing

Question

14:49:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve nutritional and marketing standards for baby foods.

My Lords, foods for infants and young children must meet regulations on nutrition, composition and labelling standards. We expect industry to improve nutritional content and labelling of baby foods, including taking voluntary action to align products with dietary guidelines and best practice. This Government are committed to raising the healthiest generation of children, which is why we are investing £57 million in Start for Life services to improve infant health and feeding, and to provide support to parents.

I thank my noble friend for her Answer. In response to mounting evidence of and concern about the poor nutritional and high sugar content in commercial baby foods, despite their being marketed as a healthy substitute for home-cooked food, the NHS has issued new guidance advising parents not to use these products every day, but only occasionally, if at all. Given that the crucial development in infancy depends on the best possible nutrition, that it is in these early years that lifelong eating habits and tastes can become entrenched, and in view of the escalating crisis in childhood obesity, will the Government now regulate what is sold as baby food and how it is marketed to parents?

I share my noble friend’s views and concerns, and I recognise that the current situation is not good enough. Current regulations set nutritional standards, and we continue to push industry to go further to reduce the sugar content in baby foods. We welcome the recent updates to advice for parents and carers on the Start for Life website—picking up on the particular point that commercial baby foods can be used as part of a baby’s diet but should not be used as the primary source of nutrition for infants—and completely recognise my noble friend’s acknowledgement of how important the first 1,001 days of a baby’s life are for the rest of their lives.

My Lords, voluntary action and expectation really have not worked and will not in future. Is the Minister aware of a report published in January evaluating the compliance of UK commercial baby foods with WHO nutritional guidelines? Only 45% adhered to the nutritional standards, less than 60% complied with maximum sugar content requirements and none met the requirements for appropriate nutrient health and marketing claims. The paper concluded that regulatory measures are essential. What do the Government plan to do about it?

I hear the frustration in the noble Baroness’s comments every time she raises this issue, and I would love to have a conversation with her about it. While recognising the frustration, I emphasise that we are challenging industry to improve the nutritional content and labelling of baby foods, including, where it can, taking voluntary action to align products with dietary guidelines and best practice. It is not all doom and gloom, and there is evidence in certain areas of improvement as a result of this. There is a great deal more to do, and going forward we will continue to review the situation and work with the best interests of our children, young people and their families in mind.

We know how important this question is. I have been here 14 years, and we have been jumping up and down like crazy frogs on this question. We know that it is all about the messaging and labelling. We know that pouches should mention that they are dangerous for children’s teeth, because more than five milligrams of sugar is too much. Does the Minister think it a good idea for public health departments to train our social and healthcare workers to give simple, easy advice to parents on how they can make cheap, nutritional food to feed their children?

The noble Baroness raises a very important point. This is why we are investing so much in the Start for Life programme, building on all the evidence and experience from the Sure Start model. That model worked because it brought all the other professionals together under one roof. Parents could go through the door, and nobody knew why they were going through that door; there was no stigma attached to it. The other aspect is peer support: the sharing of experiences with other parents. Weaning children is difficult—trust me, I have been there. Parents need huge support. The pressure from advertising, and externally, is immense. The noble Baroness is right: no one agency can do this. It is a team effort, and we all need to pull together.

My Lords, is this not a question of the private sector yet again failing to introduce the required changes? Over many years, the previous Government failed to do anything about this. Do we not need proper regulation, introduced as quickly as possible?

I have answered the point before. Our focus is on improving the situation; however, we kid ourselves if we think that it will be solved just by forms of regulation. This is a much bigger issue: it is about changing culture. It is about making sure that we take young women—and dads—forward on this journey and that we look at every opportunity we have to improve the performance of the industry, to call it out when it is failing and to ensure that we have the best evidence to take things forward.

My Lords, the British Dietetic Association estimates that 34% of women in UK breastfeed. We all know that breastfeeding is best for babies, but compared with Europe, the UK figure is one of the lowest. In Germany, 50% of women do some breastfeeding at six months; in the US, the figure is around 49%. New mothers are discharged from hospital the next day, even if they have had a caesarean section. What are the Government doing to support new mothers to breastfeed their babies? What are they doing to promote breastfeeding, particularly as formula companies have huge marketing budgets?

In my former life, I never dreamed that I would spend so much time talking about breastfeeding in the House of Lords. The noble Baroness raises such an important point, and this is why we are investing in Start for Life. The Start for Life services include £18.5 million to improve infant feeding services and to provide practical support with breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is tough; it is not easy. In days gone by there was enormous support in hospitals for women who had their babies there; that does not exist any more. We want to make sure that it is delivered through the communities, to come up with a network of champions to help women, and to improve the statistics the noble Baroness so ably outlined.

Some mothers genuinely cannot breastfeed; I was among them. What are the Government doing to strengthen the rules about sugar and other unfortunate things getting into baby food?

The noble and learned Baroness is right about ensuring that we do not stigmatise women who cannot breastfeed; that is critical. There is criticism of some of the organisations supporting breastfeeding, which have perhaps gone too far. We do take this seriously, looking at the different ages, moving from infant formula onwards, and frankly, the advice from companies is quite misleading. All this needs to be taken into account to get a rounded picture and to ensure that consumers are getting the best information possible.

My Lords, I agree with the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler- Sloss, that we should not stigmatise women who cannot breastfeed. Nevertheless, baby formula does specify that breast is best. Following on from the supplementary question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Hughes, what general awareness process are the Government engaging in to inform parents that home-cooked food is better than pre-packaged food because it is not ultra-processed and not expensive, like baby food, but much cheaper, and so they know exactly what goes into it?

The noble Baroness touches on the importance of the family hub model, making sure that it builds on Sure Start, but it is also important that we keep an eye on what is happening. The Competition and Markets Authority’s market study is important, and we are looking at this very closely. We want to work with the devolved Governments to make sure that our UK-wide response is appropriate. That level of consultation takes time; we want to get it right and we want to move forward on this issue.