97% of parents agree that they’d like to reduce the number of foods their family eat with artificial preservatives. Although the desire to eat more naturally is present, many parents find it hard to achieve, according to new research commissioned by KR Castlemaine.
The survey of more than 1,000 respondents shows that 8 in 10 Australian parents agree it is not possible to live an ‘artificial preservative-free’ lifestyle with 84% saying they find it difficult to find artificial preservative free foods in grocery stores.
Complexity of food labels was identified as an issue for Australian parents with 69% claiming that they don’t always understand the information on food labels. In fact, when given a list of everyday grocery items 35% of Australian parents could not identify that peanut butter is likely to contain artificial preservatives.
Leading Australian dietitian, Melanie McGrice's top tips for Aussie parents wanting to reduce artificial preservative foods from their diets:
- Make water your first choice of drink – it’s preservative free, cheap and convenient!
- Shop in the perimeter of the supermarket focusing on natural, fresh foods
- Limit fast-food intake. Artificial preservatives and processed food are often found together, so the fewer highly processed foods you eat, the fewer preservatives you’ll consume too
- Limit soft drinks containing sodium benzonate – an artificial preservative which when combined with certain artificial colours has been linked to increased hyperactivity in children
- Cut down on things like dried apricots and cordial which contain high levels of sulphites
- Scan the ingredients lists of packaged foods – products which contain lengthy lists of ingredients with initials and numbers are more than likely to contain artificial preservatives
- Create your own meals from scratch with fresh ingredients
- Freeze portions of your fresh, home-made meals for the convenience of a quick meal later in the week. Freezing is preservative free
- Start a vegie patch – that way you know that you’re getting fresh ingredients without added chemicals
The KR Castlemaine Naturals survey was conducted by Lonergan Research among 1026 Australian parents with at least one child living at home aged 17 or under. Respondents were the main person responsible for their family’s grocery shopping.
In response to the concerns about artificial preservatives, KR Castlemaine Naturals has launched a new range of premium sliced hams.
Do you have tips to share with other mums? We’d love to hear from you…
Agree (0)
Disagree (
__small.png)
