Organic baby food may be high in sugar and low in essential nutrients such as iron and protein in comparison with non-organic varieties, a study by Which? suggests.

Regulations governing the labelling and content of baby food were introduced last year, but some organic products contained up to three times as much sugar as was considered “a lot” for adult foods by the Food Standards Agency, the study in the consumer organisation’s publication found.

A reduced-sugar Farley’s Rusk contained 21 per cent sugar compared with McVitie’s HobNob biscuits, in which the proportion is about 23 per cent. The standard variety of Farley’s Rusks contained 29 per cent sugar.

Part of the problem was that companies were not obliged to disclose how much sugar had been added to products during manufacture, only the total amount, and parents were advised to check the positions of sugar and fruit in the list of ingredients in order to gauge how much sugar had been added.

Paediatric dietitians also expressed concern that babies were not getting enough iron, which because of restrictions could not be added to organic food. Non-organic savoury baby foods typically contained about 1.1mg of iron per jar, compared with the 0.5mg in organic brands, and it was estimated that an infant fed exclusively on organic baby food would consume 20 per cent less iron than one eating non-organic food.

Other dietitians said that a healthy balanced diet would provide a baby with sufficient levels of the mineral, however.

Some organic foods also fell foul of the regulatory requirement that if a protein was the only ingredient in the food’s name, then 40 per cent of the food must consist of that protein: for instance, a jar of beef puree must contain 40 per cent beef. Cow & Gate’s Organic Rosie’s Orchard Chicken had a confusing name, the study suggested, because the product contained only 8 per cent chicken. The manufacturer said that because chicken was one of a number of ingredients given in the description on the label, the protein component was sufficient.

The study also warned parents to watch out for the inordinately high water content of some foods. Heinz’s “tasty-sounding” Mango and Pork Dinner had water as its main ingredient, with pork in fourth place behind vegetables and mango.

Sales of organic babyfood, regularly given to three out of four babies, now exceed those of non-organic varieties.

Explore Food & Drink

• Gordon Ramsay

• Heston Blumenthal

• Recipes

• Wine

• Real Food

• Drinks

• Anjum Anand

• Eating Out

• Video Recipes

Times Recommends

• Three recipes for Dover sole
• The perfect summer wine list
• Urban Farmer: courgette ideas