The data, from Kantar Worldpanel, looked at the top types of foods eaten by under-16’s in hundreds of millions of packed lunches in the last year and why different foods are in there.
Almost one in five lunches (18%) included ‘one-shot’ fruit drinks, which a standard portion of the most consumed brand gives a six year old more than their entire daily recommended intake of free sugars in one go, according to the research.
CEO Linda Cregan, said: “This is so tough for parents. Families often choose packed lunches as simple reassurance that their children will eat something during the school day or on a day out – fussy eating is a huge worry for so many mums and dads.
“But when it’s foods like crisps, chocolate biscuits and sugary carton fruit drinks that kids are asking for in their lunchboxes, or eating because they say they like those foods, we’ve got a problem – they’re filling up on empty calories which won’t leave kids feeling at their best.
“This is why the forthcoming childhood obesity strategy must set out what more we can do to help parents and schools with this. Putting a packed lunch policy in place can be tough, but every school allowing packed lunches needs one if we’re going make life easier for parents and give kids a consistent message.
“School lunches must continue to lead the way – all of us need to be eating fewer biscuits and cakes and we should start to model that in schools, perhaps by offering only a portion of fresh fruit or yoghurt for dessert on at least a few days a week.
“And for parents, it’s never been more difficult to get children to eat well, in our society which has made it easiest and cheapest to choose less healthy options during the weekly shop – especially when your child is asking for specific products.
“The childhood obesity strategy is government’s golden opportunity to lay out practical solutions on both this and the many other negative influences on children’s diet.”
Based on the latest school census data and the most recent data on take up of school lunches, more than five million children (5,198,195 children) either have a packed lunch at school or go off-site for their lunch. That means more than 980m packed lunches could be eaten every school year.