Fed up by the junk in some of the food aimed at children? Dazed and confused by the number of additives and ingredients listed on the label? Then check out the No Junk Challenge from Organix – add your comment and you could win a £250 JL voucher! NO...

[AnnMumsnet]

We have been asked by baby and toddler food brand Organix to showcase their new campaign - the "No Junk Challenge". They want to invite MNers to take part in the challenge which runs from 28th April to 4th May.

Organix say "We'd love as many parents as possible to take the pledge now in preparation for the No Junk Challenge and say 'yes' to real food and 'no' to junk. We are launching the No Junk Challenge to expose some of the junk in children's food and to ask parents to help us call on Government and the food industry to provide stricter controls to ensure better food for children. We also need to demand clear, easy to understand labelling that will help parents to make food choices for their families."

Here's how the challenge works - Organix want you to try to feed your family for a week using fresh ingredients, avoiding artificial additives and foods high in added salt, fat and sugar. Tell them how you get on, the high points, the challenges, and share your top tips and easy recipes.

If you already manage to avoid junk in your children's diets then you’re welcome to join the conversation with Organix on how to avoid the junk and choose healthy and nutritious food for your family.

If you'd like to be part of the challenge - take the pledge on this site and post on the thread to let us know you're in.

Organix welcomes any tips MNers want to share about improving your DC's diet and how to avoid junk food with your children - please share them on this thread. Please also think about any examples you can think of where there are junk ingredients in products – and any foods or ingredients you try to avoid giving your children.

Everyone who adds a comment to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win £250 of John Lewis vouchers and a hamper of Organix food.

Sign up now to get ready for the No Junk Challenge next week.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

[PhoneSexWithMalcolmTucker]

Another one who wishes sweetener was higher up the healthy eating agenda. It's vile.

We're certainly not a junk-free household but I think the children eat quite well because DH and I eat quite well. Lots if home cooking, loads of veg; neither of us really like fizzy pop or squash, so it isn't in the house.

DD (nearly 3) would eat junk all day if we let her (we don't ) but she is also much more adventurous than her older brother and will generally eat anything.

DA (5) has been somewhat fussy since about 2.5, but interestingly he isn't fussy for processed foods. He is a massive burger snob and still loves dhal, kedgeree and tomato spaghetti...just as long as I don't make it different.

Hopefully those early toddler years of eating my home cooked meals has set him up well. Having said that, they are both crackily addicted to bloody Organix flapjack bars, god knows what is in them.

[purplemeggie]

I was recommended to take ds off sugar and all starchy carbs for a period last year and we felt we really ought to join him - he's an only child and it would have felt really mean depriving him of treats that we were having ourselves. It meant cooking absolutely everything from scratch, sweetening only with honey and baking with nuts or bean flours. It was really tough (packed lunches were particularly difficult as the school has a nut-free policy), but it really opened my eyes to how much rubbish is in off-the-shelf food. I'm much more careful about what we eat now, and cook far more from scratch. One thing I really noticed was that if you strip all the sugar out of your food for a while, you really notice it when it turns up in something unexpected - like tomato sauce - and not in a good way!

[mummy81]

I'm also weaning my son right now and he's a very fussy eater. With my first child I made sure she didn't have added sugar or salt but with my son I don't mind extra sugar as I'm trying to fatten him up. I do cook from scratch in bulk and freezer for later days.

[Itsfab]

How patronising. I suspect most people cook from scratch most of the time and don't give their children packaged crap. I fell into the trap of giving my kids Organix bread sticks and rice cakes as I assumed organic = fine. If actually they are a bit junky then more fool me.

Children who ate porridge etc and things without sugar would still eat them if they hadn't tried the sugary crap perhaps. I am a mean mummy. Mine get chocolate cereal maybe twice a year. There used to be 5 choices of cereal but now I buy porridge and Weetabix only. Sometimes too much choice didn't help. I cook everything from scratch except fish fingers though have been known to make my own and my kids have a lot of fruit and veg. I know they also have rubbish at times but I enjoy chocolate now and then so can't say I don't understand the desire for a sweet treat.

[Vijac]

I find cereal annoying too. Especially as I find it really hard to judge what is a 'healthy' cereal. Obviously ricicles have loads of sugar but things like cornflakes, fruit and fibre and muesli are much more ambiguous for me.

[JimBobplusasprog]

I always categorised organix as junk when my kids were young enough to eat it. I prefer brands to be honest: organix makes a big deal of not adding sugar then uses concentrated grape or apple juice instead. Anything that has a shelf-life of months and needs packaging in foiled plastic is not going to come direct from mother nature.

[Andcake]

Hmm we mostly cook from scratch ( like we do ourselves) for ds 20 months. Not sure why organix are better worse than some of the other processed baby snacks eg Ella's, hipp, plum etc as I thought their was lots of regulation in this area. They all say organix etc and the rare occasions I buy I check ingredients lists. But we just have normal porridge oats etc, don't go for these organix style training crisps! Why do babies need to even know the concept of crisps.

[Beveridge]

"we already avoid junk, even give them salt and shake with the blue packets mysteriously smuggled away""

Ha! Me too!

[Wjjkl]

Home cooked food all the way and a "practice what you preach" attitude. If you are eating healthy, wholesome food, the children are more likely to follow suit. If they see you eating junk, they will only want to follow suit.

[JimBobplusasprog]

Actually I have just googled the ingredients for organix alphabet biscuits. I remember being riled by the marketing when ds was little as I thought it was misleading. Ingredients as follows:

Wholegrain wheat flour 30%
Wheat flour 30%
Grape juice concentrate 27%
Unhydrogenated palm oil 4%
Sunflower oil 4%
Wholegrain oat flakes 3%
Sunflower seeds 2%
Raising agent sodium bicarbonate

[madwomanbackintheattic]

Ah, andcake - some babies DO need crisps. Particularly the bite-dissolve kind like quavers. True story. I thought dd2's feeding-specialist SLT had lost her mind when she suggested we try to wean her on quavers.

But it worked!

Dd2 was born without a suck, swallow, or gag reflex, and had to be trained to do everything (she was initially fed by ng tube, and suctioned when saliva pooled in her throat and cut off her air supply).

I am a big fan of quavers.

that said, we haven't had quavers in years. she can eat real food now, that I can spell and everything

Sorry, organix. Not such a fan of yours - we bought stuff on and off, but a company disingenuous enough to try marketing their own processed and packaged stuff as 'real food' are missing the point. (At least for anyone with a couple of brain cells to rub together).

It is very odd that anything in a packet is appealing, really. Organix is no better and no worse than any other middle class packet snack stuff marketed for yummy mummies for when they can't be bothered to halve their own grapes in a Tupperware pot.

And I speak as someone raised on findus crispy pancakes.

[MakkaPakkasSponge]

The main thing that annoys me is the amount of salt in everything.
When I was weaning DS, I tried to keep the salt content down but its in everything, and scarily added to some baby foods. I'd quite like to see breadsticks with a lower salt content.
I'm pretty good at reading the labels so I choose things that have less junk anyway.

[GiraffesAndButterflies]

organix makes a big deal of not adding sugar then uses concentrated grape or apple juice instead

This. And everything in JimBob's second post. I give DD Organix stuff occasionally, but I wouldn't kid myself that it's as good as home cooking.

I suspect this thread is going to backfire on Organix somewhat as they won't want us all to have a conversation about how their food is artificially sweetened and basically pretty junky.

[ChasedByBees]

I had managed to do quite well with DD's diet, but nursery give them those dreadful toddler yogurts which are absolutely full of sugar as a dessert. Now she won't touch other yogurts. :(

I am trying to wean her on to organix and from there, back to natural Greek / live yogurt. Sorry Organix but I'm not keen on the addition of grape juice either!

[Andcake]

Sorry madwomanbackintheattic about the crisp comment - but what a trial - glad dd eats well now!
The other thing that gets on my goat about organix's is their very expensive very sweet rice cakes. A waste of money - we give ds bits of normal sized rice cakes occasionally - last a lot longer and you can put a mix of healthier toppings on them.

[nethunsreject]

Agree with those saying organix is junk too. Worse, it's junk masquerading as wholesome food.

[SixImpossible]

We like their sweet rice cakes - for a treat for older children and even for adults.

There's no need to give babies/toddlers etc facsimiles of adult snack food. The fact they contain less sugar/salt etc does not make them 'healthy'. They perpetuate the myth that eating sweet or savoury snacks from a colourful cellophane packet is a normal thing to do. Eventually they switch from their low-sugar/salt snack 2-3 times a day to the high-sugar/salt adult version 2-3 times a day. A chocolate bar, flapjack and packet of crisps every day may be 'normal' because many people do it, but it is not 'normal' because it is an unhealthy habit. So why teach it to your children?

[GreenBeeAlwaysBusy]

I cook most things from scratch but I do put Organix bars in lunchboxes to make my kids feel more normal..so they have something that is in a packet like the other kids. I send them with lentils and things like that most days, and they say the other kids say it looks disgusting. I want them to eat good food but not feel like the odd one out, so Organix answers that for me in a way that other brands - with added additives, sugar and salt don't.

[AnnMumsnet]

Thanks for all the comments on the thread so far - keep 'em coming!

Organix are following your posts and have asked me to pass on the following message to you all.

"Thanks so much for all the comments so far, the debate is healthy and we’re listening. Our mission at Organix is to develop foods that don’t contain artificial ingredients like colourings, flavourings or preservatives , or added refined sugar or salt.

We provide food for parents with totally transparent and easy to understand labelling, so that parents can feel confident that we do everything we can to ensure that it is the best it can be.

We also support parents to cook from scratch by providing recipes, ideas, access to experts, and sharing this online through our website and social media.

Thanks to all those who have signed up and we look forward to taking our findings to challenge the food industry to move towards clearer labelling and tougher regulation of the food industry, so that we can work together to create better and more transparent food choices for parents.

Following the campaign, we are opening our doors to Mumsnetters who are interested in knowing more about Organix, what we do, and the way in which we develop our foods. Please join us if you want to be part of the campaign".

[NK66fb90c4X12110c203ee]

I am completely overwhelmed by trying to read the labels. To be honest I don't know or understand what half of the things are.

But I do try avoid all these artificial additives and extra sugar and salt. I dont really understand why the food industry is allowed to get away with putting so much 'stuff' in products - I looked at some yoghurt frubes recently and they had more than 20 ingredients in there. Surely that is not necessary. I would say that it is about time that the food industry or government took some sort of responsibility to change things. So I'm in.

[GreenBeeAlwaysBusy]

I've just read back over some of the other comments, and I think the real villians have been let off the hook. The real problem isn't good quality baby foods or how much home cooking you do. The real villians are the chocolate bars, crisps, yoghurts and cheese dippy things aimed at kids - with more sugar, fats, additives and salt than adult versions! I hate seeing them in other kids lunchboxes, and I hate it when other parents give them to my kids...or turn up at my house with them as a 'treat'. A lovely friend gave my kids crisps the other day, and I turned over the packet to look at the ingredients and they had sugar in them. They were cheese and onion crisps! Why do they need sugar?! But I didn't say anything because she was being kind. So given that sometimes I don't feel like I can speak my mind about the junk on the shelves in the supermarket, I am signing this pledge because I think kids food should and can be healthier. It just can't be that difficult to cut out the rubbish...can it?

[janekirk]

We take a sensible but moderate approach to feeding our kids. A lot of the organic companies want us to feel guilty in order to boost their own sales!

[youwish]

We eat healthy homemade foods.is amazing the amount of additives hided in kids foods.it is difficult to find healthy foods when on the go.other then fruit ,but fruit and young kids can be very messy!it is annoying have to check every single label!

[QuidditchTonedThighs]

Another who thinks Organix are junk that's slightly less crap. It's certainly not real, unprocessed food, is it?

[addictedtosugar]

Sorry, another one saying Organix are mainly junk, but better than many of the alternatives.

Lots of the stuff isn't needed in a diet:
dried fruit: OK in small quantities, but why is it special for little people? Whats wrong with all the natural dried fruit in the cooking isle?

And all those fruit purees dried into strips. Why is that different to sweets? Just sugar.

I'm very much of the line of thought that babies / kids should be eating adult meals. Yes, there are days I eat fish fingers with the kids, but there are also days when they eat what I want to eat with me. If I'm not prepared to eat it (with the exception of mushrooms!), why should the kids??

But yes, yes yes to if you don't think you'd find the ingredients in your kitchen cupboard, you shouldn't be eating it.

And also (don't think Organix are a culprit in this) low fat = bucket loads of sugar and sweeteners. Kids don't need low fat. They need full fat, and cheese and grapes is a fab snack for them.