Objective: This study aimed to characterise the availability, the nutritional composition and the processing degree of industrial foods for 0-36-month-old children according to the neighbourhoods affluence.
Design: A cross-sectional exploratory study.
Setting: All food products available in retail stores for children aged 0-36 months were analysed. Data collection took place in two neighbourhoods, comparing two different sociodemographic districts (high v. low per capita income), Campanhã and Foz do Douro in Porto, Portugal.
Participants: A total of 431 commercially processed food products for children aged 0-36 months which are sold in 23 retail stores were identified. Food products were classified according to their processing degree using the NOVA Food Classification System.
Results: For NOVA analysis, of the 244 food products that were included 82 (33·6 %) were minimally processed, 25 (10·2 %) processed and 137 (56·1 %) ultra processed. No food product was classified as a culinary ingredient. The products included mostly cereals, yogurts, prevailed in high-income neighbourhoods for the 0-6-month-old group. It was observed that some categories of ultra-processed food (UPF) presented higher amounts of energy, sugars, saturated fat and salt than unprocessed/minimally processed products.
Conclusions: The high availability of UPF offered for 0-36-month-old children should be considered when designing interventions to promote a healthy diet in infancy.
Keywords: Children’s food; Nutritional composition; Product labelling; Ultra-processed foods.