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Annabel Karmel’s Little Tasters | Chewsday Review

This week's review is of a brand new product range to hit shelves – Annabel Karmel’s Little Tasters. These are marketed as a range of healthy snacks (with vegetables!) that are perfect for self-feeding, but just how do they stack up in the nutrition department?

Ingredients

Fish & Sweet Potato Centre [Carrot, Potato, Sweet Potato* (11%), Potato Flake (Emulsifier (471), Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid)), Hoki (4%) (Fish), Apple Juice Concentrate, Yeast Extract, Dried Apple, Spices], Bread Crumbs (Wheat Flour, Sugar, Yeast, Vegetable Oil, Salt, Wheat Gluten), Water, Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oil, Wheat Gluten, Thickeners (1422, 1404, 415), Yeast, Mineral Salts (450, 500).
Allergens: Wheat, Gluten & Fish
This ingredient list is quite long and there are only small amounts of the ‘main’ ingredients, which is disappointing For example, these fish and sweet potato fingers are only 4% fish and 11% sweet potato, meaning one finger has about 1.5g of fish in it. This is pretty consistent across the range – the spaghetti bolognese balls are only 8% beef, which works out to about 2.5g of beef per ball.
Apple juice concentrate is just another (unnecessary) form of sugar. Luckily, the overall sugar content of these remain low so this isn’t a huge cause for concern.

Positives

Fat, saturated fat and sugar are all well within healthy guidelines
There’s no denying that these are exceptionally convenient – the packet says they can be cooked in the oven, under the grill or in an air fryer. Easy as!
This next one is part positive, part negative. The website suggests these fingers are suitable for babies 10 months+ and although they are relatively low in salt (sodium) they actually exceed the allowable limit for infant food. Our Australian Food Standards code states that ready-to-eat foods for infants (excluding rusks) should not exceed a sodium content of 100mg/100g yet these bites are 118mg/100g. It’s not a lot more, and still reasonably low as I said, but it does breach the code. One serve (2 ‘bites’) contains 71mg of sodium, which is around 1/3 of a younger baby’s daily intake and around 1/10th of a toddlers daily intake.

Negatives

I don’t love that these are all crumbed and shaped like nuggets and have claims of ‘hidden veg’ – in the long term we want our children to be able to eat food that looks all kinds of shapes and textures and flavours, including vegetables, so these won’t really help get them there. Hiding vegetables in food isn’t a great strategy for encouraging kids to learn to like vegetables as they get older.
These are quite a pricy product – you really are paying for convenience. $5 for a packet of 5 serves is pretty steep

Marketing

Real food made with real veggies – These do contain ‘real veggies’ (what are ‘fake veggies?!), just not a lot of them.
Ready in just a few minutes – Agreed!
Perfect for self-feeding – This is true from a shape point of view, but there are lots of other quick and easy finger foods out there (like pieces of steamed sweet potato) that are also perfect for self-feeding
Low in sodium and sugar – I appreciate that all of the AK ranges are low in salt and sugar, given that they are designed for little people but I am concerned about the apparent sodium breach.

Alternatives