Annabel is campaigning for supermarkets to include fridges in their baby aisles to give parents the option of selecting fresh, chilled food products for their offspring, instead of being presented only with an array of long-life ‘jarred’ foods.
“To achieve the long shelf life of baby foods in jars, most are processed at ultra-high temperatures, which can destroy some of the nutrients,” said Karmel. “Not only that, the treatment also usually leaves the contents tasting bland or even downright disgusting, especially the savoury varieties.”
Karmel believes that natural tastes are extremely important when it comes to weaning babies on to solids.
“Between six months and a year of age, babies are very open to trying new flavours,” she said. “It’s an important time to develop their tastes and habits by trying new foods, to avoid them becoming fussy eaters.”
Her aim is to change the way babies are fed and get supermarkets to put chiller cabinets in the baby aisles: “It’s one of the last sections of the supermarket that doesn’t have fresh, chilled food. We want to eat ‘real’ food, but are content to give our babies bland, over-processed meals.”
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