The Kids Food Co, the UK business behind baby snacks brand Kiddylicious, has launched a range of baby meals it claims can help support the health and development of children.
Little Bistro, which is aimed at babies from four months old to toddlers, contains bigger chunks of food, which the company says can help to encourage speech by strengthening jaw, tongue and speech muscles. Early exposure to chunks in food can also lead to enjoyment of more textured foods in the future, reducing the chance of a child developing into a faddy eater.
The new range of meals also have no spouts, which restrict the size of food pieces, so children learn to just swallow instead of chewing. The chunks of food in Little Bistro are the optimum size to encourage chewing, says the company, which is vital from the age of seven months to encourage children to speak.
In addition, the Little Bistro meals are low in acidity, which protects children’s teeth from erosion. “Many baby meals have a very high fruit content, but are not always clearly labeled as such,” said the company. “This high fruit content causes the purees and meals to be very acidic which can lead to dental erosion.”
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Little Bistro meals are sweetened with fruit sugars which are less acidic and therefore less likely to cause damage to developing teeth. They are also enriched with iron.
There are ten products in the range – including Garden Pea & Kale; Sweet Potato; Carrot & Coriander; Chicken & Vegetable Casserole; Chicken Tikka Masala – with another ten to be launched later in the year.
The meals are available in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons, with an RRP of between GBP1.20 (US$1.54) and GBP2.30.
The Kids Food Co. said it had “confirmed listings” for the Little Bistro meals in the Netherlands, Norway and China.
Last year, The Kids Food Co. announced it was expanding the export side of its business, which generates around 15% of its sales, with listings in Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary. It already sells its products in parts of Scandinavia.
It said it was aiming to increase its exports to 30% of its business.
