KEY POINTS:
Cereal crimes are being uncovered by a new website designed to show parents what is healthy for kids' breakfasts.
The Australian website assesses the nutritional value of products that are made largely for children, including breakfast cereals, snack bars and spreads.
The site has been created by independent consumer group Choice. It said about 70 per cent of the cereals marketed to under-12s are more like confectionery than a healthy start to the day.
The Food for Kids website uses traffic-light-style red, orange and green symbols to show whether levels of saturated fat, total fat, sugars and sodium are high, correct or low.
Cereals were singled out by Choice as having labels that border on misleading, with terms like "high in energy" and "source of vitamins and minerals" belying the high sugar and salt content in many products.
A Consumers' Institute of New Zealand study last year, which investigated 26 cereals aimed at children, discovered all had too much sugar - and very little nutritional value.
It did not recommend any of them.
Kellogg's Nutri-Grain, Nestle's Milo Breakfast Cereal, and Uncle Toby's Honey Buzz Oats are criticised for high sugar levels. The only cereal sold in New Zealand to get three (out of four) green lights so far is Sanitarium Weet-Bix, which is praised for having low levels of total fat, saturated fat, sugars, and being high in fibre for that daily dose children need. Cereals were not the only food held to account. Website contributors also nominated breads, savoury snacks, drinks and lollies for review. Choice spokeswoman Indira Naidoo said the site had been created in response to the growing number of unhealthy products on the market - and an increasing demand for help in deciding what was healthy for children to eat.
"In the last decade particularly, there has been a growth in products targeted at children, who are becoming more and more unhealthy. Consumers don't know where to get a balanced and independent assessment of them."
She said while accurate nutritional panels appear on products, parents often didn't know what levels of different ingredients - such as sodium or sugar - were good or bad.
The traffic-light symbols would help them make informed decisions, and be able to compare products, so they knew whether food advertising claims were legitimate.
Lydia Buchtmann, spokeswoman for Food Standards Australia New Zealand, said the organisation welcomed endeavours such as the Food for Kids site. "The more information, the better."
There was not an equivalent New Zealand site but Buchtmann said many of the products reviewed were sold here. She agreed many struggled to understand nutritional information on labels.
FSANZ has compiled a book, Choosing the Right Stuff, explaining how to read food label information, which will be available later this year.
Meanwhile, the site has proved popular. Naidoo said within the first three hours of the launch, it was overloaded with traffic, and had to be moved to another server.
www.choicefoodforkids.com.au
