This Sugar Awareness Week, Rosie has co-written a blog with Carole Coulon (Impact on Urban Health) on behalf of the Commercial Baby Food Review. They address a simple question: why can’t parents trust what they’re being told about sugar in baby and toddler foods?
The blog draws on the latest evidence on industry’s response to the government’s voluntary guidelines and on conversations with Parent Ambassadors from the Early Years Food Coalition. Many told us they trusted that products marketed for babies would be healthy. It was only later that some discovered how much sugar certain products contained.
Part of the problem is the label itself. A “no added sugar” claim does not mean a product is low in sugar. Many pouches and snacks are sweetened with fruit purées and concentrates, which count as free sugars, the type health advice says we should all eat less of.
Progress on reformulation is also slow. Voluntary Government guidelines introduced in August 2025 gave manufacturers until February 2027 to improve their products. Yet Which?’s interim assessment found that, halfway through, the share of sampled products failing the sugar guidelines had not changed. Snacks are a particular concern, with a separate assessment by Food Active and the Health Equalities Group finding that most baby snacks reviewed failed on added sugar.
The Commercial Baby Food Review is now assessing more than 800 products against the full scope of the guidelines, including sugar content and marketing claims. Our findings will show how far manufacturers have really gone by the Government’s deadline for implementation.
Read the full blog on Impact on Urban Health’s website here.