One in five parents find it difficult to encourage children to consume three serves of dairy a day, a Newspoll Children & Dairy survey commissioned by dairy company, Fonterra, has found.Parents in NSW and Victoria find it the most difficult at 29 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. Teenagers are least likely to consume three serves of dairy, with 16 to 17 year olds at 26 per cent followed by 13 to 15 year olds at 24 per cent. Kim Tikellis, Fonterra’s Accredited Nutritionist says these... ...Read more »

A diet, high in fats, sugars, and processed foods in early childhood may lower IQ, while a diet packed full of vitamins and nutrients may do the opposite, suggests new research, published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Researchers compared 4000 British children’s eating patterns from ages 3 to 8.5 to their IQ at age 8.5, and found that even after accounting for other factors, a processed diet at age 3 was associated with a lower IQ, even if the child’s diet... ...Read more »

With thousands of children across Australia preparing to head back to school, families are being urged to study up on lunch box food safety. “The basic rule of thumb is to keep it cool for school in order to reduce the risk of food poisoning,” NSW Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan said. The return to school coincides with some of the hottest months of the year and summer temperatures provide an ideal environment for bacteria to thrive.  The bacteria that cause food poisoning grow... ...Read more »

Wal-Mart Stores has announced plans to reformulate thousands of its packaged food products including slashing sodium by 25% and cutting sugars by 10% by 2015. The world’s largest retailer unveiled the plans at an event in Washington yesterday (20 January), attended by Michelle Obama.  Wal-Mart said the initiative aims to build on the success of the First Lady’s ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to “make healthy choices more convenient and affordable for families”. Mrs... ...Read more »

Advertisements for high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) foods aimed at children now only make up a very small portion of all food and beverage advertisements on children’s television in Australia, according to new research released by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) today. The study found just 2.4 per cent of all HFSS food and beverage adverts on children’s TV between March to May 2010 targeted children aged under the age of 12, according to data sourced from Commercial Monitors,... ...Read more »

The Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, one of China’s largest dairy product manufacturers, has announced a five-year partnership with Walt Disney.Yili will be Disney’s exclusive dairy partner in mainland China from 2011 to 2015, developing a series of new products, including yoghurt, milk and ice cream, which will be aimed at young Chinese children. “The partnership will significantly enhance the vitality of Yili brand,” said a Beijing-based Yili spokesperson. The first... ...Read more »

PepsiCo is set to launch a portable children’s snack made from squeezable fruit in the US. The company’s Tropicana Products division said the product, Tropicana Tropolis, will be available in select stores in limited markets from next month. If successful, expanded distribution is expected in 2012. PepsiCo has set its sights on boosting global sales of “nutrition” products from US$10bn now to $20bn by 2030. “Moms have fond memories of Tropicana from their own childhoods,... ...Read more »

US food manufacturer General Mills has said it has reduced sugar in cereals advertised to children by an additional 8% during 2010. The Big G manufacturer said it has achieved sugar reductions of 14% on cereals advertised to children since 2007, with some cereals reduced as much as 28% during the period. The company said that a year ago it committed to reduce sugar in all Big G cereals advertised to children under 12 to “single-digit levels of grams of sugar per serving”. It said yesterday... ...Read more »

Kellogg’s today received some tough news to swallow as it was named as having one of Australia’s worst junk food marketing campaigns to target children, for the fourth year running. Parents from around the country voted the distasteful campaign for LCMs snack bars winner of the ‘Pester Power’ category, in the sixth annual Parents Jury Fame & Shame Awards held in Sydney. In a further blow to Kellogg’s, parents also crowned the giant food manufacturer’s ads for... ...Read more »

Thousands more Victorian school children will be growing, cooking and eating their own food at school thanks to an expansion of the successful Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program.Education Minister Bronwyn Pike recently announced the Victorian Government would invest an additional $1.1 million in the program to boost the number of schools with kitchen gardens from 43 to 57. The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program began in 2007 and the additional funding will provide schools with grants... ...Read more »