I’m sure I can’t be the only parent who recoiled in horror after hearing that so-called organic baby food pouches have been classified as UPF (ultra-processed food) rather than the healthy, nutritious food they are marketed to be.

I was an Ella’s Kitchen devotee when my children were little and when I had three under-fives (they are now 11, 13 and 16). Those pouches were a godsend if I had a work deadline or needed to get one child down for a nap and was pushed for time. I used to dish them out liberally. They were marked with reassuring guilt-assuaging labels such as “packed with goodness”, “perfectly balanced” and “no added sugar” and my kids used to hoover them up with wild abandon.

I remember my youngest reaching out for them from the trolley when we went down the baby food aisle in the supermarket. And who could blame her? They looked so appealing with their bright colours, childlike font and squidgy textures. The savoury ones — spag bol, chicken casserole, fish pie and so on — were presented as a wholesome alternative to home-cooked food.

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Yet hearing that some of the baby food in six of the UK’s leading brands fails to meet key nutritional needs, and that some contain more sugar in a single pouch than a one-year-old should have in a day, shows just how far companies will go to exploit consumers.

Many of the brands, including Ella’s Kitchen, Heinz, Piccolo, Little Freddie and Aldi’s Mamia, were also found to have very low levels of vitamin C and iron in them. When it comes at the cost of our children’s health it is, as BBC Panorama reports, a scandal.

I did baby-led weaning (where you offer finger foods and let children feed themselves) with my three and mostly tried to cook from scratch with my first. It was all Annabel Karmel falafels, carrot strips and chicken balls. By the time my third came along, however, it was often fish fingers, pasta and the dreaded pouches, so this news really is a kick in the teeth.

I wonder if that’s why two out of three are so fussy now and have such a sweet tooth. The boys would live off beige food if I let them. Could giving them UPFs from the start (the pouches are marketed at babies from four months when the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines state you should start weaning at six months) have set the tone for life? I wonder if it’s also one of the reasons two out of three children have had to have a filling, much to my shame.

Experts told Panorama that the products should be used only sparingly and not as replacements for homemade meals. I’m sure some sanctimonious sorts will say they would never use them but I’m betting almost all parents have at some point.

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In their defence, the baby food companies claim that the pouches are only ever meant to be used as a “complementary” alternative alongside homemade food. They have also said they will change the marketing labels from four months to six months. Ella’s Kitchen says it has “a dedicated sugar reduction pathway for 2025”.

I can’t go back and change anything I did with my kids, but I hope the Panorama programme will help to hold companies to account. When it comes to our children, we can’t afford to let them exploit us.