Ready-made lunch dishes and snacks for children save parents a lot of time and effort in the kitchen. But are they also recommended? A market check comes to a critical result.
Potsdam (dpa / tmn) - ghost soups, chicken dinos and ready-made vegetable plates sound great for hungry children. But the special convenience meals for children are often unnecessary and sometimes even unhealthy, warns the Brandenburg Consumer Advice Center.
Especially with children's ravioli and soup bags with animal figures, carbohydrates, proteins and fats are often unfavorably distributed. The proportion of sugar in children's ravioli is about higher than in conventional ravioli. In addition, the product often contains too much salt.
Snacks too high in calories and salty
In a market check, the consumer advocates examined 40 ready meals for children up to six years of age. In addition to main dishes, the products also included side dishes such as tomato and Bolognese sauces, but also snacks such as chicken dinosaurs, breaded fish figures and filled toast slices. The snacks did particularly poorly in the test because they were too energetic and too salty.
Parents, on the other hand, could access the sauces every now and then if they pay attention to the salt content: children between the ages of four and six should consume a maximum of 3 grams of salt per day.
Composition better in toddler dishes
The examiners rated dishes for children between one and three years more positively. They consistently correspond to the needs of the age group, which is mainly due to the fact that these products are more strictly regulated. The only drawback: the products are too low in energy and quickly make the child hungry again.
The consumer advice center criticized the fact that the packaging states the daily energy and nutritional requirements for adults and not for children. In addition, the products are often enriched with superfluous vitamins that could lead to an overdose in a child. In turn, this could mean that the body cannot absorb vital minerals.
Communication from the Brandenburg Consumer Advice Center