[Experts from the Food Safety Committee have something to say] Is the dazzling array of "children's food" really that magical?

At present, in major shopping malls and supermarkets, " children’s food " counters can be seen everywhere.
There are a variety of children’s foods in the counters, including children ’s milk beverages , children’s soy sauce , children’s noodles , children’s meat floss , and children’s drinking water .
Everything
.
Many parents are very concerned about whether "children's food" is really a product specially developed for children
.
Is it safer than adult food? In fact, apart from the national standards for formula foods and cereal supplementary foods for infants from 0 to 36 months old, China has not yet issued other national standards related to "children's food"
.
The T/CFCA 0015-2020 "General Requirements for Children’s Snacks" issued by the China Non-staple Food Circulation Association in May 2020 is also limited to children’s snacks instead of all foods, and the standard is a group standard.
There are no mandatory requirements
.

 

Since the country has not issued relevant standards for "children's food", are these "children's foods" really as "magical" as the manufacturers advertised, or are they the selling points of the merchants? Below we will explain in detail several common and large-selling "children's foods" on the market
.

 

1.
Children's milk-containing beverages

 

Statistics show that the proportion of consumers of milk-containing beverages and their consumption in China have both become a rapid upward trend, and children are one of the main consumers of milk-containing beverages
.
Various flavors of milk-containing beverages currently on the market are beverage products prepared or fermented with milk or dairy products as raw materials, adding water and appropriate auxiliary materials
.
In essence, a milk-containing beverage is just a beverage, not milk in the traditional sense
.
According to reports, some institutions have evaluated common milk-containing beverages on the market, and the results show that the average protein content of the evaluated milk-containing beverages is 1.
11 g/100 g, the sucrose content is 8.
77 g/100 g, and the average carbohydrate content is 12.
31 g/100 g, the highest carbohydrate content reached 15.
7 g/100 g
.
The carbohydrate content of a bottle of ordinary cola on the market is 10.
6 g/100 mL.
The milk-containing beverage with the highest carbohydrate content is 1.
6 times the carbohydrate content of ordinary cola.
Even the milk-containing beverage with the least carbohydrate content, there are ordinary cola As much as half of the carbohydrate content
.
Carbohydrates can be decomposed into sugars that are easily absorbed by the human body.
Long-term large intake of high-sugar milk-containing beverages may not be effective in replenishing protein, but may cause excessive sugar intake and cause obesity in children
.

 

　　2.
Children's yogurt at room temperature

 

　　In the market, children's yogurt at room temperature with various brands and flavors that do not need to be stored at a low temperature and have a long shelf life are very popular among children.
What is the mystery of this yogurt? In fact, normal temperature yogurt is made by pasteurization after adding various ingredients after the yogurt is fermented
.
In fact, it is generally difficult to detect active lactic acid bacteria in normal temperature yogurt.
The reason is that the active lactic acid bacteria in the normal temperature yogurt have been killed during the processing, but the acidity formed by fermentation and other food materials (such as food flavors) can be used.
The taste attracts children.
Drinking this yogurt only supplements the nutrition of milk, but it is difficult for ordinary yogurt to regulate the intestinal flora
.

 

　　Three, children's milk tablets

 

　　Nowadays, many children like to eat milk tablets, and manufacturers also advertise that milk tablets are chewable milk.
The nutrition of a plate of milk tablets is equivalent to a cup of fresh milk
.
But if you are a connoisseur, if you look carefully at the label, you will notice that the protein content of different brands of milk flakes is quite different, and the implementation standards of the products are not exactly the same.
Are the various milk flakes sold on the market really resembling merchants? What is being promoted is "concentrated milk essence"? Some institutions have tested the total sugar, calcium and protein content of several hot-selling milk tablets on the market, and the results show that: several milk tablets are all added with sugar-containing substances, such as white sugar, glucose, maltose, honey, etc.
The one with the highest sugar content even reached 57.
8 g/100 g, which is higher than the total sugar content of ordinary toffee
.
In terms of protein content, the milk tablet with the highest content is 3.
48 g/100 g, and the lowest milk tablet is only 0.
88 g/100 g.
Therefore, the claim that “the nutrition of a plate of milk tablets is equivalent to a cup of fresh milk” is not true
.
The main reason for the chaos in the milk tablet market is: China currently does not have a national or industry standard for milk tablet products, so there is no unified product standard for different milk tablet manufacturers
.
There are also so-called "milk tablets" products produced by some manufacturers that implement the standard for compressed candy, and the product category should essentially belong to candy rather than dairy products
.
This type of "milk tablet" that implements the standard for tableting candies usually has low protein content.
The main raw materials of its products are non-dairy powder ingredients such as non-dairy creamer and milk-containing food base powder.
This is inconsistent with consumers' perception of the word "milk".
Expectations are far from each other
.

 

　　Four, children's soy sauce

 

　　The children's soy sauce that has emerged in recent years has been rich in amino acids and low in sodium as the most commonly used publicity points for manufacturers.
Is this soy sauce more nutritious and healthy? An institution has sampled 15 popular children's soy sauces on the market and used ordinary soy sauce as a control to test sodium, amino acid nitrogen, ammonium salt and other parameters.
The results show that the actual sodium content of the 14 labeled children's soy sauces is higher than the label.
According to the stated value, there is one type of soy sauce with sodium content even higher than that of the ordinary soy sauce as a control.
Among the 15 types of children's soy sauce, the lowest sodium content is 1220 mg/100 mL, which does not meet the claims of low sodium or low salt
.
The test results of amino acid nitrogen also showed that there was no significant difference between the content of 10 children's soy sauces and ordinary soy sauces, and there were 5 types of soy sauces that were formulated soy sauces, not brewed soy sauces
.
The so-called rich in amino acids and low sodium belong to the manufacturer's "concept bundle".
The main source of the daily intake of amino acids required by the human body is not soy sauce.
Soy sauce is only a kind of condiment, and the daily dosage is very limited.
Therefore, the body consumes soy sauce.
The amount of amino acids is very low
.

 

　　Through the above interpretation and analysis of several "children's foods" common in the market, we found that some of the so-called "children's foods" on the market are marketing gimmicks, and they are not much different from adult foods in terms of ingredients, and they are not like some parents think In this way, children’s food is safer and healthier.
Only formula foods and cereal supplementary foods for infants from 0 to 36 months have clear criteria for judging
.
Since "children's food" is not as magical as the manufacturers advertise, how should parents choose food suitable for children in their daily lives? We can learn to choose food suitable for children from the following two aspects:

 

　　(1) Don't blindly believe in the so-called "children's food"
.
It is not important whether the food packaging is "for children only", let alone packaged foods as the main source of children's nutrition
.
The best source of nutrition should come from a variety of natural foods, to guide children to develop a good and balanced eating habits, and avoid certain unhealthy "children's drinks" and "children's snacks" instead of staple food for long-term consumption
.

 

　　(2) When choosing packaged foods for children, parents should learn to look at the list of ingredients and nutritional ingredients on the food package as the basis for choosing packaged foods
.
Give priority to foods with high protein content, low fat, and low sodium content.
If you are worried about your child being too fat, try to choose foods with low carbohydrate values
.