Generation XL

Although the above stakeholders would acknowledge that a lack of exercise is a major contributor to childhood obesity, the finger of blame is often pointed squarely at the food industry, which is routinely hung, drawn and quartered by the press for making our kids fat or hyperactive or both.

As food manufacturers appearing on a recent Panorama TV probe discovered, if suspicious hacks can't charge them with plying kids with junk food, they will instead accuse them of conning credulous parents into paying through the nose for specially packaged 'kids' foods' that are no different from the stuff they're making for the rest of us.

You can't keep everyone happy​

But firms keen to enter the 'kids' food' market should not throw in the towel just yet, says Stream Foods' co-founder Paul Newberry, who has built up a 38.8% share of the UK fruit snacking market in a decade with fruit flakes, school bars and yogurt-coated fruit flakes under the Fruitbowl brand. "There are big opportunities in this market, but the thing I've learned is that you have to compromise, because you can't always keep kids, parents and politicians happy at the same time."​

Focus too much on pleasing one group at the expense of another, and you will hit problems, warned Newberry, who was speaking at Food Manufacture's Food for Kids conference last month. "It's not all been plain sailing. At one time, I was seduced by nutritionists saying I should be doing this or that and, in 2002, I launched 100% fruit desserts with vitamin C.​

"They got into Sainsbury and Tesco, and they met all the nutritional criteria, but nobody bought them and they were delisted. I lost £200,000 but it taught me a lesson: my job is to make products that sell!"​

While the firm had worked hard to make its fruit-based snacks as healthy as possible, it was unfair to compare them with fresh fruit as many nutritionists that had given him an 'ear-bashing' had done, he said. "On Panorama, there was the 'shock-horror' revelation that it would be better to give your child an apple or a handful of strawberries than one of my bars. I couldn't agree more, but we're not saying 'Eat this instead of an apple', we're saying, 'Why not put this in your lunchbox, instead of a chocolate bar?'"​

Annabel Karmel, who also received an earbashing on Panorama over salt levels in her 'Eat Fussy' kids' ready meals, told delegates she had decided to take this criticism on board and reduce salt to a maximum of 0.6g/product.

What was frustrating, however, was that firms in this market did not appear to be operating on a level playing field, claimed Karmel. "If you see 'no added salt' on pack, you assume that the product doesn't contain salt, whereas meals containing cheese, which has a lot of salt, are still making this claim. It's misleading. But we have to strike a balance and remember that, above all, we want children to eat our products and enjoy them."​

But Miranda Watson, social policy campaign manager at consumer lobby group Which? said manufacturers must try harder to bridge the gap between what was good for children and what they wanted to eat, rather than throwing in the towel on the grounds that reformulation would dent sales. She also urged them to provide a wider variety of portion sizes and more innovative healthy snacks for lunchboxes. "Manufacturers must do more to make healthier foods appealing, affordable and accessible to children​."

Regulators could also do more, said Watson, calling on the European Commission to adopt a stricter line on the nutrient profiling clause in the health claims legislation to stop firms making claims on products that were high in salt, fat or sugar. However, this obsession with looking at the nutritional profile of products in isolation was challenged by some delegates, who felt that a healthy balance was something that should be aimed for across the diet, rather than within an individual product.

At Tesco, for example, the kids' range was designed to be something people could "dip into​" rather than a complete dietary solution for kids, said company nutritionist Karen Tonks. However, certain criteria did still apply on a product-by-product basis, she said. "We have tight controls over fat, salt, sugar, calories, portion sizes and additives. Where possible, it is also desirable to have one portion of fruit or veg, and at least one [nutrition or health] claim."​

Interestingly, the top five sellers in Tesco's kids' range which features Disney characters were all fruits, said Tonks, although mini cheese sticks, fromage frais and spring water also made it into the top 10. "There is a big emphasis on lunchbox items​." All products are also road-tested with 50 primary school age children, she added.

But what do kids actually need? While we have growth spurts in early infancy and at puberty, humans grow "rather slowly​" during the period inbetween compared with other primates, pointed out Jeya Henry, professor of human nutrition at Oxford Brooks University.

This made maintaining a balance between 'energy in' and 'energy out' pretty tough for children aged two to 10 years in a culture where physical activity levels were dropping, he noted. "Children today are consuming high energy dense foods coupled with little or no physical activity; it's unique in human history."​

While it was important to try and reduce the energy density of foods, however, transferring adult neuroses about weight to children was not healthy, he said. "Above all, childhood should be a time of enjoyment; we don't want to drive children to develop eating disorders​."

It was also important to ensure that children got enough calcium, vitamin D and the long-chain omega-3 fatty acid DHA, he said. "50-60% of children are deficient in vitamin D; only 50% of three- to five-year-olds get their RDA of calcium and most of us in the western world are not getting enough DHA in childhood."​

Translating all of this into successful products for kids was a challenge, given the limited amount of claims that manufacturers would be able to make under the constraints of future EU health claims legislation, observed Mintel's David Jago.

On the plus side, though, clarity over the conditions of use for nutrition claims such as 'high fibre', and 'source of omega-3' did at least enable manufacturers to mention some nutrients, even if they could not elaborate on why they were good for you, he said. "But most parents are not actually looking for sophisticated functional ingredients, although they can be persuaded to buy them. Actually, their primary concern is: 'Will my kids eat it?'"​

As for what messages did resonate with parents, 'No artificial colours, flavours and preservatives' remained popular but was not something that would necessarily confer an advantage anymore, he claimed. "It's now the norm for kids' products." The same also applied to reduced fat and sugar claims, with growth in this area being "pretty flat".​

Steady, if unspectacular, growth​

Despite the low birth rate, the euro 14bn European market for kids' foods was nevertheless growing in value albeit not very fast, said Leatherhead Food Research's Chris Brockman.

"For 2004-2008, the compound annual growth rate was 1.3%. For 2008 to 2012 it's predicted to be 1.6%."​

The biggest segments for foods specifically targeted at children were bakery, followed by beverages, dairy and cereals, said Mintel's Jago. But 'better for you' snacking partly driven by the pressure to make lunchboxes healthier was one of the biggest growth opportunities, he said, citing recent launches such as Innocent pure fruit squeezies, Weetabix oaty bars, Yoplait strawberry choobs and Dairylea dunkers.

Successful marketing strategies, meanwhile, recognised that there were several different stages on the road to adulthood, and that each required a different approach.

Young children, for example, were motivated by cartoon characters, bright colours, shapes and packaging, while slightly older children were more enthused by sports, TV, and other 'interests', added Brockman.

Crucially, said chairman Greg Tucker, manufacturers needed to think more carefully about exactly which groups they wanted to target: "There's not just children and adults, there are all these stages inbetween. How is your range stratified​?"

The Food for Kids conference was sponsored by GNT and Ocean Nutrition Canada.