Answering reporters' questions on "Children's Food Safety"

Recently, Legal Daily did a report on "Children's Food Safety", which was reposted by the People's Daily official microblog, citing some of my views. Unfortunately, the overall orientation of the article is wrong, and it still calls for the establishment of special standards. So I posted the reporter's questions and complete replies (original and unedited) for your reference.

Excerpt from the report: Many industry experts interviewed by the reporter pointed out that at present, my country does not have a special category for "children's food". "Children's food" lacks special laws and regulations and national food safety standards, and is more like a marketing tool. They called for increased supervision, setting corresponding food standards for "children's food" and raising the entry threshold; at the same time, multiple channels should be used to strengthen nutrition knowledge education for parents so that parents can rationally choose food that is truly suitable for their children.

1. What do you think of the booming children's food market? In your opinion, can the existing children's food products really meet the needs of children's healthy growth?

Answer: Children's food is not a food category, but a food "marketed to children". Similar products include food for the elderly, pregnant women, teenagers, etc. The reason why it is so popular is of course because of the high premium and easy to make money. Market segmentation is a common marketing strategy.

Existing foods (including ordinary adult foods) can fully meet the developmental needs of children, but parents need to choose and match them reasonably. This basic principle actually applies to adults and children other than infants.

2. The survey found that some existing children's food products can be labeled as "children's food" in the product name by simply relying on cute packaging, modeling and other design elements, thereby attracting children and their parents to buy. However, these products often have no obvious difference in ingredients from adult food. What do you think of this phenomenon? Does this mean that the threshold for so-called "children's food" is too low?

A: As mentioned before, because this is a marketing concept, there is no problem of too low a threshold. Its threshold is the same as that of ordinary food. I buy ordinary adult food for my child. She eats what I eat.

3. At present, there are clear national standards for milk powder foods that are also clearly marked as for infants and children. For example, in March 2021, the National Health Commission issued three standards: "National Food Safety Standard Infant Formula Food", "National Food Safety Standard Older Infant Formula Food" and "National Food Safety Standard Toddler Formula Food". It is for this reason that milk powder is subject to strict quality inspection and control to a certain extent. Compared with milk powder, do other so-called children's food products lack national standard restrictions, resulting in a lack of supervision in reality? Does children's food need to set more professional and targeted national standards?

A: "There is no safety standard for children's food" is a serious misunderstanding of the food regulatory system. In the past, deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference often mentioned "children's food safety standards". In fact, this is unnecessary and wasteful. From a professional perspective, you can't come up with any safety indicators (including additives) that are different from ordinary foods.

The so-called "unhealthy" is also a matter of nutrition, and it is a matter of reasonable matching and moderate consumption. Don't always think of using food safety standards to solve all problems, as that will only make things more chaotic.

4. In view of the current chaos in the children's food market, in what aspects do you think improvements should be made?

A: In my opinion, first, we need to regulate marketing activities targeting children, and second, we need to educate consumers, especially parents, on how to choose and how to match. The problem with children's food is not mainly about safety, but about eating too much or not eating in a balanced way.

Safety issues can be blamed on manufacturers and regulatory authorities, but nutritional issues must be blamed on oneself. Everyone likes to shift the blame to others and is unwilling to admit their own problems.

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Postscript. Please think about this question: you enter a supermarket and pick out the "children's food" on the shelf. Then answer: Can adults eat these "children's food"? Can children eat the remaining "adult food"? Now tell me, what is children's food?

(Internet pictures deleted if infringed)

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©Diet Reference

Dr. Kai Zhong

Senior food science joke teller

Scientific Advisor of Guokr.com

Standing Committee Member of the Health Communication Branch of the Chinese Association of Preventive Medicine