A mum has slammed a nursery after staff confiscated a mini chocolate cake from her son's packed lunch and hid it until home time.
The nursery in Hull defended the move, explaining it was following Ofsted guidelines and helping to promote healthy eating and good oral health.
But the mum, who had included an Aldi Fondant Fancy in her son's lunch, said most of the food on the nursery's 'what's allowed' list is expensive, not filling, and unsuitable for young children, reports Hull Live.
The mum, who wanted to remain anonymous, defended her packed lunch choice and added: "As long as you make sure they have a balanced diet and brush their teeth every morning and evening there is nothing to worry about.
"There's absolutely no need to put children on a silly diet when they are just kids."
She said her son had arrived home from nursery and told her that staff had not allowed him to eat his mini chocolate cake.
She said: "He told me they hid it from him and told him he had to wait for home time. I don’t see how this small cake is going to affect him. It should be up to us parents what we feed our kids."
The nursery's policy is that if the packed lunch contains anything that it does not allow, staff will provide the child with an alternative and invoice parents. The mum said she already pays a lot for nursery fees and her son usually enjoys his packed lunch, as she always provides a variety of food.
The nursery also banned any types of nuts due to allergies, which the mum supported.
She said: "People are already struggling to put food on their table after the rise in cost of living, there is no need to make life even more difficult by banning certain foods in pack lunches.
"Everything on the list that the children are allowed to eat is really expensive and not even filling. On the list it suggests making a tuna bean salad, why would I make my child eat a tuna bean salad, I don’t even make myself eat that."
The nursery wrote in its letter to parents it only accepts low-calorie crisps.
The mum said: "Do they want me to calorie count his food for the day too? How silly is this.
"At the end of the day it is all down to personal choice. I think this is just too extreme. Let kids be kids - give them a variety of everything otherwise they will just be picky eaters."
