Children's dumplings, children's yogurt, children's noodles... Beijing citizen Zhang Lei bought food for his 7-year-old son, and has been used to choosing food with the "children" label. "Since the label of 'children' is attached, there should be differences, such as less additives and more trace elements. As long as it is safer and more nutritious for children, we are willing to buy it even if the price is more expensive." Zhang Lei said. Zhang Lei's attitude towards children's food is not uncommon among children's parents. According to the results of a special survey, 84.8% of children's parents are more inclined to buy food marked "children" for their children. However, these children's foods favored by parents are not necessarily safer and more nutritious. Many experts pointed out in an interview with reporters that the concept of "children's food" has not been clearly defined in China's current laws and regulations and national food safety standards. At present, children's food with labels such as "for children" on the market is more of a marketing means. Not only that, some foods sold for children will cause damage to children's health due to additives and other reasons. In this regard, Zhang Li, a deputy to the National People's Congress and head of Anhui provincial animal husbandry technology promotion station, suggested strengthening legislation specifically for minors' food packaging labels and strengthening the construction of special national standards and industry standards, so that consumers can clearly choose food more suitable for children and adolescents and better protect the healthy growth of minors. Lack of national standards for children's food Children's soy sauce, children's milk, children's sausage... The reporter saw in a supermarket in Chaoyang District of Beijing that many foods were labeled "children". After searching on several e-commerce platforms, it was found that almost all daily food would be labeled as "children", and the sales of some children's food were still considerable. For example, in the official flagship store of a brand, the monthly sales of children's dumplings reached more than 900, accounting for the second place in the sales list of dumpling food in the store. The reporter noted that these children's food has a relatively consistent style - in terms of packaging, they often use bright cartoon patterns; In terms of publicity, it claims to have "natural nutrition" and "unique formula" beneficial to children; In terms of price, food labeled "children" is more expensive than food of the same brand. However, these children's foods favored by many parents have no national standards. At present, there is no concept of "children's food" in the mandatory national standards. China only has relevant food safety standards for formula foods and complementary foods for infants and young children aged 0 to 36 months. The general requirements for children's snacks issued in 2020 stipulates the nutritional health and safety of children's snacks, but the standard is not mandatory. Zhang Li found in her research that there is no substantial difference between the food labeled "for children" and the same kind of food in the market, but the price is generally high, and some may even be suspected of false publicity. In addition, the safety and quality of spicy strips, instant noodles, fruit flavored drinks and other food sold in small shops around primary and secondary school campuses are difficult to guarantee, and some of them belong to "three noes" products, with generally high contents of oil, salt and sugar. Children's food may not be suitable for children The outline of the "healthy China 2030" plan clearly puts forward that the health problems of key groups such as women, children, the elderly, the disabled and low-income groups should be solved. To promote children's health, food safety and nutrition are essential. Yao Juan, a deputy to the National People's Congress, believes that in the whole life cycle, children's eating habits and food education cognition are extremely important, which will affect their health throughout their lives. The healthy growth of children requires more reasonable and scientific dietary and nutritional management. However, due to the lack of clear legal provisions and national standards, many parents lack a correct understanding of children's food. The 2021 report on nutrition knowledge and practice of school-age and pre-school children shows that 50% of children's parents do not understand the relationship between nutrition and disease, and their nutrition knowledge needs to be improved; More than half of the parents of children aged 3 to 12 believe that their children's feeding and daily diet need to be improved, and there are imbalances and corresponding bad dietary behaviors and health problems. Zhang Li pointed out that there are still some problems in the labeling of minors' food packaging, such as the lack of intuitive labeling of nutritional components, and the vast majority of parents and children cannot intuitively understand which foods are high in salt, fat and sugar when shopping, and what impact children may have on their health after eating them. These so-called "children's food" sometimes endanger children's health. Baoxiulan, chief physician of pediatrics at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, pointed out that children's food may not be suitable for children, "such as children's cheese, most of which belong to remanufactured cheese. Additional sugar, salt and other additives need to be added in the production process. Some children's steaks even contain trans fatty acids. Long term consumption will damage the development of children's nervous system, and even harm the cardiovascular system and heart". Relevant laws and regulations are not perfect Some problems in children's food are also the topic of concern of many representatives and members. During the national two sessions this year, many delegates and members pointed out in their suggestions that the imperfection of relevant laws and regulations is an important reason for the chaos of children's food. Gao Jie, member of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference and Deputy Procurator General of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Procuratorate, said that children and adolescents consume more beverages, puffed foods, seasoned noodles and other foods with high sugar, high fat and high salt, which are serious causes of obesity among children and adolescents. The content of sugar, fat, salt and other key information on children's food packaging is marked in a simple and eye-catching way, which is an effective way to control children's consumption of "three high" food. "However, at present, there are no special laws and regulations on the packaging and labeling of minors' food. Some of the existing provisions are scattered in laws and regulations such as the food safety law and the implementation regulations of the food safety law, and they are only specific provisions for the packaging and labeling of infants' food. The relevant provisions of the newly revised minors' protection law are more principled and less operable." Gao Jie said. Article 55 of the newly revised law on the protection of Minors stipulates that the production and sale of food, drugs, toys, utensils, games and entertainment equipment, amusement facilities, etc. for minors shall comply with national or industrial standards and shall not endanger the personal safety and physical and mental health of minors. The producers of the above-mentioned products shall mark the precautions in a prominent position, and those who do not mark the precautions shall not be sold. In Zhang Li's view, although the above provisions further strengthen the prompt obligation of producers and sellers, they are still relatively principled. They neither clarify the precautions for juvenile food, nor specifically elaborate on the corresponding legal responsibilities, and their operability in practice is low. Strengthen the construction of special national standards With regard to children's food, many deputies to the National People's Congress proposed to regulate children's food through legislation and clarify the corresponding national standards as soon as possible. Zhang Li suggested that legislation should clarify the special classification of "children's food", introduce special food packaging and labeling standards for minors, clearly stipulate the nutritional ingredient labeling, food additive requirements, food safety standards, etc. of minors' food, and use eye-catching, simple and understandable graphics or text labels on prepackaged food with minors as the main consumption objects, so as to give intuitive tips to "three high" food. According to Yao Juan, it is necessary to take comprehensive measures to promote the high-quality development of children's food industry, promote the healthy and reasonable dietary structure of children, and better meet the relevant requirements of dietary guidelines. Yao Juan suggested to establish and improve the standard system of children's food and guide the development of children's food industry from standard to standard. It is necessary to gradually establish and improve the children's food standard system based on children's meals, children's extra meals, children's snacks, etc. by establishing a series of standards such as children's quick frozen food, children's Prefabricated dishes (specific dishes), children's pastries, so that the development of children's food industry has corresponding technical regulations to guide, laws to follow, and evidence to follow. (our reporter puxiaolei) (outlook new era)