KFC plus infant and toddler food brands come under fire at 2025 Children's Food Awards

During Autumn 2024, the Children's Food Campaign invited the public to nominate companies and products that they felt were contributing the most to an unhealthy food environment for children.

Amongst the nominations for fast food chains, confectionery companies and others, a clear trend of concern emerged with the sheer number of nominations for brands selling foods targetted at infants and toddlers.

Health Washing

The award for “Worst Example of Health Washing” was given to Aptamil 3 toddler milk, which is branded in a similar way to first infant formula, despite being a product that is considered ‘not necessary for young child nutrition’ in official NHS Government guidance. Described by judges as ‘no better than a milkshake’, and despite numerous claims about nutritional benefits, a day’s intake would add over 14g of free sugars to an infant’s diet. The “Yucky” award for Aptamil 3 comes hot on the heels of the final report from The Competition and Markets Authority into the pricing and marketing of infant formulas, which will start to enforce tighter packaging and marketing rules, including separation of first infant formulas from the additional toddler and growing up milks ranges in stores, and clearer on shelf information for consumers.  A second toddler brand Kiddylicious was also a finalist in this category for the use of misleading health claims about the developmental benefits of its ultra-processed snack ranges.

Unhealthy recipes in need of change

The award for “Recipe most in need of change” also went to a baby food brand: Farley’s reduced sugar rusks were found to still contain over 20g sugar per 100g, which is a third more than the sugar in a typical digestive biscuit. Judges noted that although the sugar level is lower than the original Farley’s rusk, it still contains excessive levels of sugar which are not suitable for this very young age group, and that the name of the product was wholly inappropriate. Gourmet Burger King’s children’s meals was a runner up in this category following a survey by Action on Salt and Sugar that exposed very high levels of salt in its meals, in some cases exceeding the maximum daily intake for a child aged 3-5.

Children’s Food Campaign Manager Barbara Crowther said:

“It is shocking that so many baby and toddler brands were nominated by the public in our 2025 Children’s Food Awards. Parents have told us how shocked they are when they realise just how much sugar is often hidden in these products and feel betrayed by brands they thought they could trust. The commercial baby and toddler market has grown hugely in recent years, and is characterized by bright packaging, cartoon characters and all sorts of health claims that mask the true nutritional content of the products which are often ultra-processed and high in free sugars.

“We believe the government needs to take a much harder look at the infant and toddler commercial market and consider tighter regulation. Parents need honest, transparent nutritional information to support them with healthy, safe feeding, and there must be a much more concerted effort to ensure products are healthy and nutritious.”

Commercial Villain of the Year

A third leading toddler brand, Ella’s Kitchen may be seen as a surprise finalist in the “Commercial Villain of the Year”, given its household name status as a trusted brand for families with babies. However, judges called out the company for labelling its products as suitable for 4+ months, when government guidance is to exclusively breastfeed or use formula for the first six months. The judging panel, which included several nutritional experts, also noted the failure of the company to highlight the levels of free sugars in many of its products, potentially contributing to the development of sweet preferences from an early age.

However, the award for Commercial Villain of the Year finally went to KFC, following an investigation by the Times revealing that it had consistently lobbied and undermined local council planning decisions on hot food takeaways near schools. The Government’s new National Planning Policy Framework has now specifically provided guidance to local authorities to strengthen their ability to manage the density of takeaways and restrict their establishment in the vicinity of schools and other children’s venues.  

For all the finalists in each category, plus the winners of both the Yummy and Yucky Children's Food Awards 2025, take a look here.

Take a look at our judging panel.