Family Health: What really lurks in your children's lunchboxes; We

IN their bright cartoon-covered containers, they are specially packaged and designed to attract children.

But if you take the time to read the labels of many popular children's snacks to see what they contain, you might think twice before putting them into a child's lunchbox.

We asked dietician Fiona Hunter to analyse the nutritional value of 10 snack foods, and her niece Amy, four, and nephew James, eight, from Taunton, Somerset, to give us their taste verdicts...

BIG CEREAL Co

CHOCOLATE BITES

Crunchy cereal snacks with chocolate filling

Fat: Low to medium at 5.2g.

Sugar: High at 14.4g.

Salt: Low at 0.25g

Calories: 170

Added Vitamins: B1, B2, pantothenic acid, B6, folic acid, B12, Biotin, Niacin and iron, phosphorous, magnesium. Pack gives 83% of daily vitamins, 50% of iron.

Price: 40g pack/35p

Verdicts: Anna - "Not bad". James - "I like them, but not every day." Fiona - "OK if children can brush their teeth straight afterwards. The cereal sticks to their teeth, which encourages tooth decay. Iron is one of the vitamins that many children are lacking."LAUGHING COW CHEEZ DIPPERSBreadsticks with cheese dip.

Fat: Quite low at 5.6g.

Sugar: No information.

Salt: No information.

Calories: 101 per pack.

Added Vitamins: None.

Price: Box of four/pounds 1.35

Verdicts: Amy - "They are alright". James - "OK, but again, I wouldn't want to have them every day." Fiona - "Cheese is naturally rich in calcium and Vitamin A, although one pack of Cheez Dippers doesn't really contain enough to make significant contribution to calcium intake (less than 10% of the recommended daily allowance). Nevertheless, this would be a good snack for a lunchbox or eating on the go."DAIRYLEA LUNCHABLESEight mini biscuits, eight discs of ham and cheese.

Fat: High at 18.7g.

Sugar: Low at 2.2g.

Salt: High at 3g.

Calories: 313 per box.

Added Vitamins: None.

Price: 110g box/pounds 1.19.

Verdicts: Amy - "Only just better than boring sandwiches." James - "I prefer sandwiches." Fiona - "One pack has half an adult's recommended daily intake of salt. That's shocking in a product for children. Over 50% of the calories come from fat. They are expensive and stuffed full of E numbers and too many calories come from fat. They may save time in the morning but that's the only good thing I can say."JACOB}{'S ICED GEMSPretty coloured sweets.

Fat: Low at less than 1g.

Sugar: High at 15g.

Salt: Low at 0.25g.

Calories: 116 per bag.

Added Vitamins: B2, B6, iron and calcium. Bag gives 20% of daily amounts.

Price: Six 30g bags/pounds 1.09.

Verdicts: Amy - "The pink ones taste great." James - "Nice, but I didn't really like the biscuit - it was too hard." Fiona - "I would include these in a lunchbox. Surveys show that many children lack vitamins and minerals in their diet. This would be one way of getting them."KP CHOC DIPSBiscuit sticks with a chocolate-flavoured dip

Fat: High at 10.5g

Sugar: Medium at 9.9g

Salt: Low at 0.25g

Calories: 176

Added Vitamins: None

Price: 32g pack 39p

Verdicts: Amy - "I really like the chocolate. Yummy." James - "I like the chocolate, but I prefer to dip my finger in rather than the biscuit." Fiona - "Nothing to commend them nutritionally. Quite high in fat. Best saved as an occasional treat"YOPLAIT WILDLIFE CHOOBSFromage frais in a tube with real fruit puree.

Fat: Low at 1g.

Sugar: No information.

Salt: No information.

Calories: 44.

Added Vitamins: None.

Price: six 40g tubes/pounds 1.09.

Verdicts: Amy - "I liked the taste, but they're hard to open." James - "Quite yummy." Fiona - "Designed to be eaten on the move. Good for a car journey. Fromage frais is a source of calcium, but the amount you get in a tube is so small it hardly makes a contribution. Still, some is better than none."DAIRYLEA STRIP CHEESESix long thin sticks of cheese.

Fat: Medium at 5.7g per stick.

Sugar: Low at 0.1g

Salt: Low to medium at 0.75g.

Calories: 73 calories.

Added Vitamins: None.

Price: Four 21g sticks/99p.

Verdicts: Amy - "I don't really like them, they taste odd." James - "Doesn't taste like proper cheese. Too rubbery." Fiona - "Many children are short of calcium and cheese is an excellent source so it's a good thing for a lunchbox, but this is an expensive way of doing it."KELLOGG'S CEREAL/MILK BARCereal snack.

Fat: Medium at 4.5g per bar.

Sugar: Medium at 9g.

Salt: Low at 0.37g.

Calories: 120 per bar.

Added Vitamins: B1, B2, niacin, B6, Folic acid and B12. A bar gives 20% of recommended daily allowance, plus 25% of calcium and 20% of iron.

Price: Six 27g bars/99p.

Verdicts: Amy - "I really like the crunchy bits." James - "A bit too sweet." Fiona - "On the whole, not too bad. They're sweet but also reasonably healthy."WALKERS MONSTER MUNCHPickled onion flavour baked potato snack.

Fat: Medium at 6.3g.

Sugar: Low at 0.4g

Salt: Medium to high at 0.75g

Calories: 120.

Added Vitamins: None

Price: Six 25g packs/95p.

Verdicts: Amy - "They're too peppery. Yuk!" James - "They're yummy, but not as yummy as other crisps." Fiona - "These are baked rather than fried which means they contain around 25% less fat than crisps, which is a plus point. But nutritionally, they don't really have much else to offer - best saved as a treat."CADBURY'S ANIMALSMini-packs of half-chocolate coated small biscuits.

Fat: Medium at 5.1g.

Sugar: No

information.

Salt: No information.

Calories: 123.

Added Vitamins: None.

Price: Ten 25g packs/99p.

Verdicts: Amy - "Lovely. I like the animal shapes." James - "Yummy - best if eaten two at a time." Fiona - "No added nutrients, but reasonably low in fat and OK to give your child now and then. The label doesn't give any information about sugar content, which is annoying for parents wanting to take care of their children's teeth."

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