Baby food 'more fatty than burgers'

Some baby foods contain higher levels of saturated fat and sugar than equivalent portions of chocolate biscuits or a cheeseburger, according to a new survey.

The Children's Food Campaign (CFC) described as "staggering" the results of a survey of more than 100 products aimed at babies and toddlers.

It found that 100g of Farley's Original Rusks contained more sugar (29g) than the same weight of McVitie's Chocolate Digestives (27.3g).

Heinz Toddler's Own Mini Cheese Biscuits contained 7.3g of saturated fat per 100g, more than the 6.7g found in a piece of McDonald's quarter pounder burger with cheese of the same weight.

The CFC, an arm of the food and farming group Sustain, also found Cow & Gate's Baby Balance Bear Biscuits were improperly labelled and did not make it clear to parents that they contained trans fats which have been linked to heart disease.

CFC joint co-ordinator Christine Haigh said: "The results of this survey are staggering.

"Many foods marketed for babies and young children are advertised as 'healthy'. In reality, in terms of sugar and saturated fat content, some are worse than junk food. In particular, failing to correctly label products that contain dangerous trans fats is outrageous."

Cow & Gate said it was discontinuing its baby biscuits range after being made aware of the presence of a "small amount" of trans fats. "In discussion with the Food Standards Agency we have already taken the decision to discontinue our baby biscuits, when we became aware of the presence of hydrogenated fat, which contains a very small amount of trans-fats," a spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for Heinz said its Toddler's Own Mini Cheese Biscuits come in a 25g portion which contains 1.8g saturated fat per serving, due to the inclusion of cheese in the product. "It is quite misleading to compare our product with a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese which is consumed in a portion size of 194g, containing a total of 13g saturated fat per serving."

Heinz also makes Farley's Rusks which the spokesman said had "been enjoyed by generations of babies, and some adults too, for 120 years" with few changes to the original recipe.