How healthy is the food in your child's lunchbox?

We all want our children to eat healthily and what they take to school for lunch can make a huge difference to how they perform in class in the afternoon. The problem is that many foods which seem healthy do in fact have hidden ingredients which my be far from good for them.

The consumer champion Which? assessed the nutrition content of items targeted at children's lunchboxes and found that the healthy impression they gave was far from reality. What might seem a healthy snack is in fact far from it.

For instance:

• Dairylea Lunchables Ham ‘n' Cheese Crackers - one pack contains 1.8g of salt, more than half the daily allowance of a four to six year old.   
  
• Fruit Shoot Orange Juice Drink, each 200ml bottle is made up of 23g of sugar - almost five teaspoons.   
•  Frosties Cereal Milk Bars - made up of seven different sugars, the 25g bar is almost a third (eight grams) sugar.   
•  Munch Bunch Double Up Fromage Frais contains more than two teaspoons (12.4g) of sugar but only 2.25g of fruit purée.

To help families to pick out healthier food, Which? wants robust rules on when products can make health and nutrition claims. This would stop manufacturers from making items that contain high amounts sugar, fat and salt from appearing healthier than they are.

Martyn Hocking, Editor, Which? magazine, says:

"Parents should be able to pick out healthy products for their kids' lunchboxes, but what you see isn't always what you get.  Some products give the impression of being healthy but are full of salt and sugar.

 "The best way to beat the lunchbox baddies is by checking the nutrition and ingredient information. We'd also like to see the rules on health and nutrition claims made tougher so that there's less confusion on the supermarket shelves."