Child nutrition guru – Annabel Karmel has been criticised for adding sugar and salt to her ready meals for toddlers. Annabel Karmel has sold millions of books guiding parents on how to wean children on to healthy food. However, it has emerged that her Eat Fussy ready meals are laced with added sugar and salt. Annabel Karmel has developed a multi-million pound empire from her book the Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner.
Attention has centred on Mrs Karmel’s beef lasagne, which contains 5.4g of sugar per 100g of weight. This is double the sugar found in a similar product for adults. The same ready meal contains 1g of salt per pack, half of the entire daily recommended maximum for a child aged one to three. The Eat Fussy beef cottage pie has even more salt at 1.1g in a pack, while the range’s salmon and cod pie and chicken and potato pie both come in at 0.9g. The ready meals are sold as an alternative to home cooking for busy mums. The website claims: ‘Eat Fussy gives your child the delicious home-cooked taste they love, with the healthy nutrition their young body needs. ‘Eat Fussy gives you guaranteed quality you can trust.’ However, the lasagne and cottage pie contain added sea salt despite a Government recommendation that parents cooking at home should not add salt to meals for toddlers.
Last night a spokesman for Mrs Karmel said the criticism of the Eat Fussy lasagne was unfair. ‘As the meals are aimed at one- to four-year-olds, it is important to remember that we state on pack that the meals are a generous portion for young toddlers and most would not eat the whole contents,’ she said. ‘A one-year-old would manage about half a portion but even if a toddler of one or two were to eat the entire meal this would still be OK as part of a balanced diet. ‘There is little point in making a meal that children will not eat. If healthy alternatives are bland and children refuse to eat them, frustrated parents may well turn to chicken nuggets, pizzas and pot noodles.’
Source: Daily Mail – read the whole story here
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Dear Mumzine,
We are listening to feedback and we care very much about Mums and their little ones. I wanted to personally leave a comment on your blog and reassure you that the current salt levels of Eat Fussy meals are well within strict nutritional government guidelines for children aged 1 to 4 years.
We will be looking at reducing the salt content of these meals – we have already redeveloped the recipes by replacing the small amount of sugar with fruit juice. Admittedly the labelling is unclear and we are changing this so that Mum knows how much to give to their young toddler as part of a balanced diet.
If you would like to test the new meals, then please let me know or email site@annabelkarmel.com
Best wishes
Annabel xxx
Hello Annabel, thanks to taking the time to respond.
It goes without saying that trust in brands is a huge factor for parents and our readers when it comes to purchasing decisions for their kids and the recent controversy over your ready meals has no doubt damaged that. Please keep us posted with any new development/initiatives that will help reestablish mums trust in your brand.
Best, wishes
Margherita
I think the Panorama documentary on children’s food was an eye opener for all parents and child carers. It seems that Annabel Karmel is not the only manufacturer of food to come under fire; Fruit Shoots, Petit Filous were also criticised for outrageous levels of sugar and salt.
Given that most adult ready meals come with clear labelling, I think that companies should do the same for children’s food voluntarily to increase good will. Failing that I suggest the government compels them to do so through legislation. We are facing an obesity and ultimately the cost of care will fall on our children’s shoulders.