Kids these days think fish fingers are made of chicken, pasta comes from animals and 11% think Fruit Pastels are part of their five-a-day (they’re not?!) – according to a recent survey.
The poll surveyed 5,040 children aged five to 16, as part of an annual Healthy Eating Week and it seems children are pretty confused about the origins of their food.
When a group of children aged five to seven were asked where cheese came from almost a third said they thought it was made from a ‘plant’. And in an older group of eight to 11-year-olds, one in four thought the same, according to the Independent.
Pasta comes from animals? Yep, according to 22% of the younger group of children and 13% of the older group – animals provide us with pasta.
73% of five to seven-year-olds and 92% of eight to 11-year-olds were aware that fish fingers are usually made from haddock or cod, but 18% of the younger children and 6% of the older group thought they were made from chicken.
And how about this? One in 10 of a group of 11-to-14-year-olds thought tomatoes grew underground, and 22% thought they grew on a bush.
Fruit pastels were also mentioned in the poll, and around 11% of both the young and the older group believed the sweets counted towards their five-a-day.
The results did show that 31% of 11- to 14-year-olds and 28% of 14- to 16-year-olds said that they knew a lot about healthy eating and tried to follow it.
While almost half of the younger group and 48% of the older children said they knew lots but either ‘do not follow it or do not always follow it’.
Roy Ballam, the MD and head of education at the British Nutrition Foundation, said:
Schools and families can and should successfully work together to, in turn, educate children and then motivate them in their endeavours to make healthier choices.
Furthermore, the links between physical activity, health and diet should be frequently highlighted by the Government’s programmes.
Madness!
