Volume sales of branded babyfood have crashed by 14.7% year on year, following BBC Panorama’s investigation into the high sugar content and poor nutrient value of pouches, The Grocer can reveal.
Babyfood brands sold 26.1 million fewer units through the tills in the year to 28 February 2026 and lost £33m in value sales, exclusive NIQ data shows.
The four top-selling brands – Ella’s Kitchen Organic, Kiddylicious, Organix and Heinz, which command almost two-thirds (62.2%) of the category’s £333.5m value – sold 21.9 million fewer units and haemorrhaged £27.9m between them.
Category leader Ella’s Kitchen experienced the greatest volume and value losses in absolute terms. It sold 12.7 million fewer units and shed £17.7m of its value.
Meanwhile, private-label babyfood, which holds 29.3% market share in value terms, saw slower unit declines of 2.9% and shed £4.7m of its value.
BBC Panorama’s documentary, ‘The truth about baby food pouches’, aired last April, and exposed worryingly low levels of essential vitamins and minerals and high levels of sugar in some ambient products sold in grocery.
Fruit, yoghurt and savoury pouches from Ella’s Kitchen, Heinz, Piccolo, Little Freddie, Aldi and Lidl were sent by BBC Panorama for laboratory testing.
The investigation found some savoury pouches, used by some families as replacements for main meals, contained less than 5% of the key nutrient, iron, that an infant needs each day.
One of the fruit pouches tested had lost nearly all its vitamin C during manufacturing. Fruit pouches were also being marketed as having “no added sugar” while containing about four teaspoons of “free sugars” from blended fruit, which experts said was “intentionally misleading”.
Furthermore, pouches were being marketed to babies as young as four months old, against the clear recommendations of the UK government and the World Health Organization (WHO) to introduce foods at around six months.
No comments yet