04.Ingredients and labelling

A product with up to 5% of non-organic ingredients by law can still be labelled certified organic according to organic standards, and a few of the baby food varieties we reviewed – while compliant with the standard – weren’t. So don’t assume all products are 100% organic. 

• The fig in Organic Bubs Pumpkin, Apricot & Fig isn’t organic, for example. 
• Neither is the cherry juice in Heinz Organic Apple Berry Blush or the ricotta and parmesan cheeses in its Butternut Pumpkin Pilaf. 
• And non-organic ingredients in the Rafferty’s Garden Organic Super Hero range include the avocado in Pear + Banana + Avocado, the cheese in Carrot & Cheddar Mash and the parsnip in Beef & Veggie Puree. 

Water and thickeners are often added to baby food to get the right consistency and texture. Some water may be used in cooking and is needed to thin ingredients such as potatoes, corn or peas, for example. It’s also added to reconstitute ingredients such as milk powder and juice concentrate. And ingredients such as ground rice, rice flour, cornflour, and rice starch can have a thickening effect and help to keep the product from separating. But water and thickeners can also displace more nutrient-dense ingredients. Babies need a high-nutrient diet, so the more real food in a product the better.

All brands we reviewed include some single fruit or vegetable products or simple fruit, veg and meat combinations that are close enough to 100% of those ingredients – sometimes with a little water for the right consistency. 

But it’s still worth checking the ingredients list and choosing carefully. Holle’s Pumpkin & Chicken, for example, is just 38% of those ingredients – the rest is water, rice flour and rice starch.

Comparing more complex meal products to determine which have the most ‘real’ food is not so simple – particularly when you’re trying to juggle a wonky trolley, a shopping list and a crying baby.

We scrutinised the labels of all these products and found two issues that make it difficult for parents to make fully informed decisions about the foods they buy for their babies.

• % ingredients Under Australian food labelling laws manufacturers must list ingredients on the label in descending order of weight. But they only need to declare the percentage of ‘characterising’ ingredients mentioned in the product name or pictured on the label. How informative labels are varies widely between brands. Happy Baby (an American brand), gives no percentage ingredient details; by contrast Green Monkey, Organic Bubs and Organix (an English brand made in France) go beyond the legal requirement and list percentages for all ingredients – so you know exactly what you’re getting for your money.
• Product names don’t always reflect exactly what’s in the recipe. Organic Bubs Apple & Berry Bircher Muesli, for example, is 50% banana. And Happy Baby Super Salmon is predominantly sweet potato, carrot, potato and brown rice pasta with salmon coming in sixth on the ingredients list. The ingredient most commonly included in a baby food recipe, but left out of the product name, is apple. Apple is the largest ingredient in Rafferty’s Garden Organic Super Hero’s Beetroot & Veggie Puree, while Organix Banana & Mango is 59% apple puree. Only Organic Mango Custard, Peach Mango Sunset and Mango Rice Pudding all contain more apple than mango. And the two largest ingredients in Heinz Organic Creamy Vanilla Rice are apple juice and apples.

See Organic brand profiles  and our baby food comparison table for more details.

05.Organic brand profiles

• Made inNew Zealand
• Price we paid $2.49/100g pouch
• Product varieties (available inAustralia) 5
• Stages/ages 4 months & older; 6 months & older

Labelling

• The percentage of each ingredient is clearly listed.

• Happy Baby

  Made in USA

• Price we paid $2.65/99g pouch, $2.79-$2.95 for 113/114g pouches
• Product varieties (available inAustralia) 11
• Stages/ages stage 1 starting solids; stage 2 simple combos from 6 months; stage 3 balanced meals from 7 months

• Percentages of ingredients aren’t listed. The manufacturer told us it’s in the process of re-labelling to include these details.
• The product name doesn’t always reflect the major ingredients. For example Super Salmon is predominantly sweet potato, carrot, potato and brown rice pasta.

Heinz Organic

• Made inAustralia
• Price we paid $1.45/110g jar; $2.10/170g jar
• Product varieties 20
• Stages/ages 4-6 months & older, all ages from 6 months, 7-9 months, 10-15 months 

Labelling

• Percentages of all main ingredients such as vegetables, fruit and meats (not just those pictured or mentioned in product name) are given on the ingredients list.
• The product name doesn’t always reflect the major ingredients. For example the two largest ingredients in Creamy Vanilla Rice are apple juice and apples. And Spinach, Pumpkin & Ricotta contains more tomatoes, sweet potato, onion, zucchini and sweetcorn than spinach. Heinz told us its Creamy Vanilla Rice will be re-named to include reference to its fruit content, and a newly reformulated and re-named version of Spinach, Pumpkin & Ricotta will be available from February 2012.

Holle

• Made inSlovakia
• Price we paid $3.30/125g jar; $3.99-$4.25/190g jar; $4.70-$4.75/220g jar
• Product varieties (available inAustralia) 33
• Stages/ages from 4 months, from 6 months, from 7 months, from 8 months 

• Percentages of characterising ingredients are given on the ingredients list.
• A number of products make a ‘no thickeners’ claim, but contain ingredients such as rice flour or rice starch, which can have a thickening effect.
• Ingredients included in the product name and other ingredients such as vegetables, fruit and meat, frequently make up less than 50% of the product; the rest is mainly water, juice concentrate, flour or starch. For example Banana with Semolina is just 27% those ingredients, and Spinach with Rice is just 30% those ingredients.

Only Organic 

• Made inNew Zealand
• Price we paid $1.35-$2.19/110g jar; $1.79-$3.25/120g pouch; $1.96-$2.80/170g jar; $2.59/190g jar
• Product varieties (available inAustralia) 39
• Stages/ages 4+ months, 6+ months, 9+ months 

Labelling

• Percentages of characterising ingredients are given on the ingredients list.
• The product name doesn’t always reflect the major ingredients. For example, Pear and Mango contains 60% apple and just 40% pear and mango, and Mango Custard, Peach Mango Sunset and Mango Rice Pudding all contain more apple than mango. Only Organic told us its products are currently being reviewed for label accuracy.

Organic Bubs 

• Made inAustralia
• Price we paid $1.98/120g pouch
• Product varieties 12, with 5 additional varieties being launched in December.
• Stages/ages 4 months plus, 6 months plus 

• The percentage of each ingredient is clearly listed.
• The product name doesn’t always reflect the major ingredients. For example Apple & Berry Bircher Muesli is 50% banana, and Pumpkin, Apricot & Fig contains more apple (39%) than apricot (13%)

Organix 

• Made inFrance
• Price we paid $7.20-$7.55/400g (4 x 100g tubs)
• Product varieties (available inAustralia) 6
• Stages/ages from 4 months 

• The percentage of each ingredient is clearly listed.
• The product name doesn’t always reflect the major ingredients. For example Banana & Mango is 59% apple puree, more than the banana and mango content together.

Rafferty’s Garden Organic Super Hero

• Made inAustralia
• Price we paid $1.98/120g pouch
• Product varieties 10
• Stages/ages 4+ months, 6+ months 

Labelling

• Percentages of characterising ingredients are given on the ingredients list.
• The product name doesn’t always reflect the major ingredients. For example apple is the largest ingredient in Beetroot & Veggie Puree and the largest ingredients in Mango Chicken Puree, after water, are sweet potato and corn.

For details of all 136 products reviewed see our organic baby food comparison table.

The Baby & Toddler Show, Sydney

This weekend in Sydney at The Baby & Toddler Show, Green Monkey is giving away baby food pouches and also three prizes of a years worth of baby food.

Stand G63. Visit The Baby & Toddler Show website.

Green Monkey™ super premium baby foods are certified organic using only New Zealand grown organic produce for their entire range, a feature becoming increasingly important to consumers in times of uncertainty around global food safety.

Inspired by mothers disappointed with the unappetising baby foods available, Green Monkey™ has far exceeded the quality of any baby food ever seen before. Green Monkey™ impressed the judges by its creative, modern and ultra-convenient packaging design, ease of use for consumers, and appeal for merchandisers for its functional presentation on shelf using an edgy recycled cardboard shelf display device which included the use of sustainable vegetable inks. The design was created with the end user in mind from the outset and as a result Green Monkey™ was commended for its simple, yet vibrant and healthy premium food for babies. Never before has a baby food been recognised for such a high level of innovation.

Additionally, Green Monkey™ was commended for a sustainable business focus and support for New Zealand organic growers and its premium quality ethos.

The biennial awards recognise the country’s most innovative food products manufactured in New Zealand, rewarding innovation and excellence.

Managing Director Charlotte Rebbeck summarised:

“We were rapt to gain such accolades in these prestigious awards and to receive three was overwhelming. Green Monkey™ are recognised as the leaders of innovation in baby food. Our product is 100% premium New Zealand organic food that our babies are deserving of. Baby food should be healthy, nutritious and inspiring. Green Monkey™ premium organic pouches are the end result of a strategic and integrated design led philosophy championed over the past year by business arkitect and colleague Andy Macbeth and the help of a fantastic team of like-minded people.”