Shining a spotlight on the urgent need for better regulation and honest marketing. New research reveals how supermarket catalogs are steering Australian parents towards unhealthy packaged foods for infants and toddlers.
Study: The marketing of commercial foods for infants and toddlers in Australian supermarket catalogues. Image credit: FamVeld/Shutterstock.com
Supermarkets in Australia promote commercially packaged foods for infants and toddlers with little regulation, potentially normalizing unhealthy foods for young children. This was the focus of a recent study published in Health Promotion International.
Introduction
The Australian Infant Feeding Guidelines recommend exclusive breastfeeding for up to six months, after which solid foods should be introduced. Like adults, children need a healthy diet. This should include fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains (core foods) while avoiding highly processed food with high saturated fat, excessive salt, sugar, and sodium (discretionary or “junk” foods).
Between one and three years, children should be fed all the core foods (vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, meats or meat alternatives, and dairy or dairy alternatives) served to adults at mealtimes. In reality, 80% of Australian two-year-olds eat too little fruit and vegetables, and 60% regularly consume junk food treats, mostly snacks and sweet drinks. These make up a third of their total caloric intake.
Commercial spaces constantly push food marketing, mostly junk food, onto consumers. This decides children’s food preferences and eating patterns. It also heavily influences how parents perceive and choose food products for children.
“The result is a food marketing environment that promotes unhealthy products at multiple points along a consumer’s ‘path to purchase’, nudging consumers towards unhealthy eating behaviors.”
There is little regulation for the marketing of commercial foods targeting infants and children in Australia, though sales are rapidly growing. The study refers to commercial infant and toddler foods (CITFs) as packaged foods or drinks marketed explicitly as suitable for children under three years, other than breastmilk substitutes. Squeeze pouches dominated the global market for infant and toddler foods, with US$2,111 million in 2018. By 2026, spout pack sales are expected to have grown by 7.5%.
Besides being high in sugar and low in iron, these soft foods, if used too long, prevent children from learning to eat and enjoy lumpy, non-sweet foods and may shape lifelong unhealthy food preferences.
In one Australian survey, one in two parents reported that these foods comprised half of what their children ate. Apart from being tasty, self-feeding-friendly, and affordable, parents felt they were healthy and nutritious and appreciated not having to worry about cooking or food safety. Parental anxiety and uncertainty about food preparation and concerns about food safety also contribute, especially among single parents and families experiencing socioeconomic disadvantages.
These foods and their marketing strategies are specifically designed to target parents and caregivers of young children, with packaging and messaging sometimes appealing to the children themselves. The current study examined the products and their marketing via supermarket catalogs.
Digital and paper catalogs are the basis of grocery shopping for 75% of Australian shoppers, often luring people to buy things not on their list. Supermarket catalogs reach a large audience and capture an average of six minutes of attention. One in three people read them from cover to cover.
Study findings
The current study used weekly catalogs from four major Australian supermarket chains (Aldi, Coles, IGA, and Woolworths) – representing 70% of the Australian market, downloaded for 12 successive weeks. Aldi’s catalogs were among the most widely read, although in this study, Aldi featured CIFT promotions in only one catalog.
Type of food
The researchers analyzed over 2,000 pages from 60 different catalogs. Overall, 63% of the catalogs promoted food or drinks, mostly junk food (56%). Infant and toddler foods comprised 3.5% of all pages, being promoted across 49 pages in the catalogs.
While some CIFTs are more nutritious than others, most products promoted were discretionary and often misaligned with guidelines, even among some core food categories. Even many commercial foods marketed as ‘core’ or nutritious options for infants and toddlers do not meet Australian or WHO nutritional standards
While 74% targeted infants, 26% were labeled for toddlers aged 12 - 36 months, and 21% were labeled as suitable for infants from four months of age. These complementary foods should be used only from six months to two years.
A single page in one Aldi’s catalog featured eight items, six sweets, and two snacks. At the same time, 92% of Coles’ catalogs included promotions for 54 different items. Among all infant and toddler food promotions, fruit purees, primarily for infants, comprised 40%, while snacks and sweets accounted for 27% and 12% of promotions respectively.
However, the exact share varied between supermarkets. Woolworths had 44% fruit purees and snack promotions, IGA had 56% and 5%, and Coles featured 31% and 39% in its catalog.
Packaging
Pouches made up 50% of all packaging types, used for 59% of foods for infant consumption but only 20% for toddlers. For toddler foods, boxes were the most common packaging, accounting for 47%.
Techniques
Marketing techniques included offering low prices (95%), using baby-related text or images, health-related text, and images of healthy foods. Catalogs and food packaging carry visuals of core foods, babies, toys, and other props, with 90% on the same page as other everyday baby products such as wipes or diapers.
Associating commercial baby foods with other commonly used infant or toddler products normalized their use and directed parental attention away from core foods. This placement, along with labeling some products as suitable from four months of age, may undermine breastfeeding recommendations that advocate exclusive breastfeeding until six months old.
Many parents view providing ultra-processed snacks to very young children as normal. These snacks replace healthier, iron-rich foods in the diet, increasing the risk of micronutrient deficiencies. In many cases, promotions for infant formula or toddler milk drinks appeared alongside these foods, potentially discouraging breastfeeding.
Most are marketed with misleading on-pack labeling, claiming, for instance, to be preservative-free. This type of claim creates a “health halo,” making products appear healthier than they are. Research shows this is especially persuasive for families with three or more children or those facing higher stress levels and time pressure.
Global health organizations, notably the World Health Organization (WHO), have made efforts to guide food marketing for young children. Yet, most of these foods do not meet either the Australian food guidelines or the WHO guidelines.
Conclusions
Paying attention to dietary patterns in infancy and early childhood promotes learning of lifelong healthy eating habits. Yet most commercial foods for infants and toddlers are unhealthy and promote negative nutritional patterns and eating behaviors.
Although a minority of catalog pages featured CIFTs, the placement and marketing techniques may have influenced parents to normalize feeding packaged foods to infants and toddlers rather than encouraging meals and snacks prepared from whole foods.
This should encourage policies to minimize supermarket catalog promotions, helping parents escape misinformation and choose healthier foods for their young children. They should make efforts “to curtail the unhealthy influence of food marketing on children’s diets and reorient this powerful marketing medium towards promoting healthier whole foods over processed, packaged commercial foods for infants and toddlers.”
It is important to note that the study focused on major supermarket chains and digital catalogs and did not examine smaller retailers or other marketing channels. The authors also acknowledge that content analysis alone cannot prove the direct impact on purchasing or dietary behaviors. These limitations should be considered when interpreting the findings.
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