SALES of unhealthy snacks for babies and toddlers have risen by 70 per cent in the past two years, according to Bournemouth-based healthy food brand Organix.

Organix is launching a campaign to “clean up the junk” in children’s food.

It has partnered with TV personality and mother-of-two Cherry Healey for the “junk busting” campaign, with the hashtag #FoodYouCanTrust.

Organix commissioned a survey which found 85 per cent of parents were shocked to find some baby finger foods and toddler snacks contained almost as much salt as a bag of adult crisps.

It found 82 per cent were shocked to find salt was added to some baby and toddler snacks to boost the flavour.

Cherry Healey, known as presenter of Inside the Factory, said: “As a mum, I feel passionately about the quality of children’s food. There are some great snack foods on supermarket shelves but there’s also some misleading labelling, and I’ve found unnecessary ingredients hiding in baby and toddler snacks, like added flavourings and salt.”

The research said 76 per cent of parents were surprised to find some baby and toddler snacks contained up to 30 different ingredients, while 88 per cent were shocked that some foods in the baby aisle were not protected by regulations.

More than half of parents said it was difficult to find food they could trust.

Philipp von Jagow, managing director at Organix, said: “There’s been a massive explosion in the number of baby and toddler snacks available, but it’s come at a nutritional cost.

"As brands have rushed to launch new foods, standards have slipped and we’ve seen sales of unhealthy snacks rise by 70 per cent in the last two years.

“It’s unacceptable that it should take 30 different ingredients to make a tasty toddler fruit snack, or that salt should be added to corn snacks. It’s time we called for change to protect our little ones. “There are existing baby food regulations governing nutrition and safety criteria but too many gaps in this regulation are allowing poorer standard foods to enter the marketplace – currently there’s a lack of integrity and enforcement and we’re calling for that to change.”

More than half of parents surveyed thought family attractions and theme parks were the hardest places to find healthy snacks for little ones. The other top five culprits cited by parents were soft play centres, coffee shop chains, motorway service stations and leisure centres.