Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to update regulations on the (a) composition, (b) marketing and (c) labelling of commercial (i) infant and (ii) toddler foods.

Children’s early years provide an important foundation for their future health and strongly influences many aspects of wellbeing in later life.

It is vital that we maintain the highest standards for foods consumed by babies and infants, which is why we have regulations in place that set nutritional, compositional, and labelling standards for commercial baby food. These ensure that the ingredients used in commercial baby food are suitable for the nutritional needs of infants and require businesses to ensure labelling in clear and not misleading. The regulations also set labelling standards to ensure consumers have clear and accurate information about the products they buy.

We continue to keep these regulations under review to ensure they reflect the latest scientific and dietary guidelines.