"Children's food" should regulate marketing behavior

According to the "White Paper on Children's Snack Market Survey" jointly released by the China Non-staple Food Circulation Association and the Institute of Food and Nutrition Development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, it is predicted that by 2023, the children's snack market will grow steadily at a compound annual growth rate of 10%-15%.

With the increasing variety of "children's food" and the growing market, parents are often attracted by food packaging with "children" logo when shopping in supermarkets

The price is higher than ordinary food

Mainly rely on special logos to attract purchases

In many large supermarkets, it can be seen that commodities containing the words "children's food" are scattered on various shelves, such as children's soy sauce, children's dumplings, etc.

Some parents feel that buying items marked "children" is "reassuring"

Moreover, "children's food" is expensive.

"Children's food" is also popular on e-commerce platforms

However, many parents do not know or take the initiative to understand, what kind of food is called "children's food"? Xia Qunying, a national second-level public nutritionist, said that children at different ages have different nutritional needs

Watch out for marketing gimmicks

Satisfy nutritional needs with a healthy diet

According to Zhong Kai, director of the Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, "children's food" is not a food category, but food "marketed to children", such as "food for the elderly", "food for pregnant women", and "food for young people"

"Many parents don't actually know what nutrients children need, and what nutrients 'children's food' needs to have.

In Xia Qunying's view, "children's food" is highly substitutable and can be replaced by daily reasonable diet and collocation

Zhang Guoxun, deputy chief physician of the Department of Pediatrics of the First People's Hospital of Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, also said that from the perspective of nutritional ingredients, some products such as children's noodles and children's dumplings currently on the market do add trace elements and vitamins, which are beneficial to children's growth and development.

　　Li Qian, an attending physician in the clinical nutrition department of Suqian Hospital of Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Group, said that children over 3 years old have gradually matured their digestive system and cardiovascular development, and there is no need to specially feed foods marked with the word "children".

　　Another point of view is that "children's food" lacks safety supervision, and more professional and targeted national standards should be set

　　(Comprehensive arrangement by Zhou Yan)

"China Food News" (April 27, 2022 02 edition)

　　(Editor-in-charge: Zhou Yan)