Heinz new toddler food guidelines driving healthy eating benchmarks for toddlers

Heinz has a long history in Australia of providing nourishing foods to infants and toddlers. Our commitment to better foods is exemplified by the Pure Start®, a program ensuring that our foods for infants contain: no preservatives, no artificial flavours or colours and no added salt. We are now establishing healthy eating benchmarks for toddlers through the development of new toddler food guidelines.

These guidelines are based on the Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in Australia and have been reviewed externally by paediatric dietitians. Our guidelines incorporate both qualitative and quantitative criteria around food and food ingredients, and consideration of toddlers’ behavioural requirements.

The Heinz toddler food guidelines provide our product development process with specific nutritional targets to strive for within the Little Kids® brand. We aim to have the majority of our Little Kids products satisfy the criteria of the guidelines. Some older products which do not satisfy the criteria will be reformulated accordingly.

Dietary Guidelines recommend:
• Eat plenty of vegetables, legumes and fruits
• Eat plenty of cereals, preferably wholegrain
• Include lean meat, fish, poultry and/or alternatives
• Include milk, yoghurts, cheese and/or alternatives
• Limit saturated fat and moderate total fat
• Choose foods low in salt
• Consume only moderate amounts of sugars and foods containing sugars

The Little Kids toddler foods will aim to meet the following criteria:
• Maximise use of fresh natural ingredients eg vegetables, legumes and fruits
• Increase use of whole grains eg brown rice/wholegrain cereals
• Use best quality lean meat possible
• No preservatives*
• No artificial colours
• No artificial flavours
• Low in Salt (<120mg per 100g)
• Avoid hydrogenated oils/trans fats
* With the exception of dried fruit for acceptable product quality

Processed foods contribute significantly to young children’s food intake and it can be confusing for consumers to make healthy choices in the supermarket. Parents can be confident that the Little Kids range is a healthier option for toddlers than many other available processed foods.

Heinz acknowledges that it can be a challenge for parents and carers to manage dietary requirements and toddler behaviour so we have developed a Fact Sheet with tips to help support Little Kids healthy growth. 

Download Little Kids Fact Sheet (PDF 807.3K)

For specific information about the Heinz toddler food guidelines please contact us.

Further information about the range of Little Kids products is available at
www.heinzforbaby.com.au/littlekids

Comments

[toddler meals]

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