ONE in 10 parents think Jaffa Cakes count as one of their children’s five daily portions of fruit and veg.
Double that number reckon fruit-flavoured sweets also help towards the target.
And some even believe that chips and cola are full of healthy vitamins, too.
Just a fifth of families encourage their youngsters to eat the proper quota of fruit and veg, while one in 20 children eat none at all.
The shocking facts were revealed yesterday in a survey carried out for food firm Green Giant.
Jaffa Cakes’ orange-flavoured filling seems to have confused many of the families questioned.
An astonishing one in 20 of parents thought real oranges and bananas did not count towards the five-a-day target, but many thought that fruit squashes and even spaghetti hoops did.
Nutritionist Vanessa McConkey said of the survey: “It is concerning to see that the five-a-day message isn’t getting through clearly to parents.
“Good eating habits start at home and parents need to get their children into the habit of eating more vegetables and fruit.”
Child health expert Tam Fry added: “We have got a generation of parents and children who think that a potato is a thin white sliver which you take out of the freezer.
“I don’t think anyone would deny that the fruit and veg message is the right one. The problem is that it doesn’t always taste too nice.”
