Ella's Kitchen

Ella’s Kitchen has launched a ‘Greener Paper’ as part of its Veg for Victory campaign to raise awareness of the importance of vegetables during weaning.

The babyfood brand has called for a greater focus on early years’ nutrition following the release of the government’s childhood obesity plan, which highlights that one in five British children are either overweight or obese by the time they start primary school [National Child Measures Programme: Detailed Analysis of the 2006/7 National Dataset].

The new Greener Paper says the weaning period provides an opportunity to influence infants’ food preferences, which can affect their childhood eating patterns. Introducing vegetables first, frequently and with variety, can help prevent fussy eating.

Only 35% of UK parents wean predominantly with vegetables, according to a study commissioned by Ella’s Kitchen [YouGov ‘Veg for Victory’ 28 April 2016], which is calling on Public Health England to alter the guidelines for weaning to include the importance of vegetables.

“We are a business that puts social responsibility at its heart. Our mission is to improve children’s lives through developing healthy relationships with food,” said Mark Cuddigan, Ella’s Kitchen UK managing director.

“This is one of the most ambitious and pioneering campaigns we’ve ever launched and we really hope that other brands, retailers, health organisations and experts will join us in our mission and help spread the message about the importance of starting weaning with veg.

“We welcome any efforts to improve children’s health, so it is positive that the government is taking an interest in this with the childhood obesity strategy. However, we were disappointed that the strategy doesn’t include reference to the early years,” added Cuddigan.