THE FRUIT SNACKS WITH FOUR SPOONS OF SUGAR
’Healthy’ choices as sweet as doughnut
TWO-THIRDS of fruit snacks seen as healthy choices contain as much sugar as an iced doughnut, a study found.
More than half have more sugar per 100g than Haribo Starmix sweets. Campaign group Action on Sugar found Tesco’s Apple & Sultana Bars were among the worst with 4.6 teaspoons of sugar per serving. Fruit Bowl Juicy Yogurt Raisins contained four teaspoons per serving.
It found all 56 types of fruit-based snacks it examined, many aimed at kids, merited a red traffic- light warning for high sugar content.
The study found while processed dried fruit products were marketed as “healthy snacks” because of their high fruit content, the sugars in them were categorised by Public Health England as “free sugars”.
This means they contain purees, concentrates, juices or added sugar through a coating or flavouring.
HONEST
Action on Sugar found Asda’s Yogurt Coated Strawberry Fruity Bits Snack Bags had 3.8 teaspoons of sugar per serving, Whitworths Sunny Dunked Yogurt Coated Raisins had 3.8 and The Fruit Factory Strawberry, Apple, Orange Fruit Stars 3.1. The group wants “honest labelling” of fruit- based snacks with a ban on “misleading claims” such as “one of your five a day” or “made from real fruit”.
Holly Gabriel, Action on Sugar nutritionist, said: “Children should be encouraged to snack on whole fruits and vegetables and not excessively sweet products.”
The organisation’s campaign director Katharine Jenner said: “The message to food manufacturers is quite simple – stop tricking parents.”
The Food and Drink Federation said products had nutrition information on their labels.
FDF’s Tim Rycroft said: “Products made of pureed or extruded fruit will contain sugar as sugar naturally occurs in fruit.
“All nutrition labelling information... can only use adult reference intakes. There are no children’s reference intakes defined by law.”
Tesco said: “Our own-brand apple and sultana bars are produced solely from dried fruit with no additives, preservatives or added sugars. Our packaging is designed to clearly display the sugar content.”