The baby and children’s food market encompasses a wide range of products from infant formula to pre-prepared foods, lunch box treats, kid’s ready meals, and kid’s meal kits. The
reached over 1.4 billion British pounds in 2020 and is forecast to grow at a steady rate to reach almost 1.7 billion British pounds by 2025.
Retail brands and trade
Ranked by number of users, Ella’s Kitchen, a company that produces organic baby and toddler food, was the
leading baby and junior food brands in Great Britain in 2020. Other popular brands included Heinz and Organix.
The UK imported over 113 million U.S. dollars' worth of
infant and young child food preparations from Ireland in 2020, making Ireland the top import partner. Germany and the Netherlands ranked in second and third place that year, respectively.
Lockdown eating habits
The coronavirus pandemic altered what and where people eat all around the world. While babies and infants are not likely to have altered diets, given their specific nutritional needs and eating routines at this young age, some children in the UK experienced similar shifts in their food behaviors as adults. According to a recent survey, over 50 percent of parents stated that their
children were eating more home-cooked meals during lockdown. Some children were also eating more comfort foods, such as ice creams, cakes, biscuits, and confectionery. Almost 70 percent of surveyed parents agreed that their
children wanted to eat more snacks in general throughout the pandemic.
Children’s nutrition in the UK
Some 11 percent of boys and 15 percent of girls aged between two and ten were
classified as overweight in the UK in 2019. Government initiatives, such as banning the sale of unhealthy snacks at supermarket check outs and restrictions on advertisements for junk food being shown in the daytime, were planned to combat these high figures. It is yet to be seen what impact such measures have on rates of obesity among children in the UK. The
share of children with very low food security in the UK increased by three percent between 2019 and 2020. Having access to nutritious and balanced meals is a key component of food security; increasing levels of insecurity may, therefore, contribute to the prevalence of overweight and obese children in the UK.
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