Saskatchewan Breastfeeding Committee alerts to Heinz promos

Sheri Taylor, public health nutritionist in Saskatchewan and member of its Breastfeeding Committee was concerned about the promotion of early introduction of complementary foods. When the Children's Health Foundation fundraising campaign wrote a letter to public health soliciting the collection of Heinz labels from jarred and cereal baby foods through the public health sector she became concerned that this might be in conflict with the promotion of healthy infant feeding practices. Lack of clear recommendations on the age of introduction on Heinz baby food labels with respect to the WHO recommendations of exclusive breastfeeding to about six months and the product promotion in violation of WHA Resolution 47.5 "fostering appropriate complementary feeding practices from the age of about six months", puts Heinz in violation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes. "Unfortunately", she wrote back, "because Heinz is not considered a breastfeeding friendly company, we cannot support this fundraiser and have advised our members to convey this message to their health districts."

On checking out the Heinz website, parents are told to introduce solids, "from about 3 to 4 months you will consider starting your baby on solid foods."