I was looking for our usual yogurts with Thomas and his friends when I realised that there are no more of them in Sainsbury's but they had a new one: Nestle Munch Bunch Sally Strawberry and Vanilla. It was on offer for 74 pence so I decided to buy my kids one to try it.


First impressions

This Fromage Frais comes in four 90 g plastic pots. All of them are coloured half red and half yellow. I read in other reviews that it is available in strawberry and banana combination as well. In our Sainsburys it wasn't available yet.


Price and where to buy

Now in Sainsbury's it is on offer, you can buy them for 0.74 pound instead of 1.49. I think they are available in most of larger supermarkets.


Taste, smell

After opening the first one I found that it is quite a thick Fromage Frais. It has lovely strawberry smell. It is a layered yogurt, but I found that the layers are vertical not horizontal as I read in other reviews. My sons eat 1 each day, so I opened and fed them with about 12 and found that all of them were vertically layered. They are large enough for giving them only one pot a day. My sons love them.


Ingredients

Fromage Frais, Sugar, Cream, Strawberry Purée (2.5%), Modified Maize Starch, Milk Mineral Concentrate, Flavourings, Thickners: Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Xanthan Gum, Acidity Regulators: Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Colours: Carmine, Caramel.


Nutritional information

Energy: 107 kcal/100 g; 96 kcal/pot
Protein: 5.8 g/100g; 5.2 g/pot
Carbohydrate: 14.2 g/100 g; 12.8 g/pot
Of which sugars: 13.7 g/100 g; 12.4 g/pot
Fat: 3.0 g/100 g; 2.7 g/pot
Of which saturates: 1.9 g/100 g; 1.7 g/pot
Fibre: 0.1 g/100 g; 0.1 g/pot
Sodium: 0.1 g/100g; 0.1 g/pot
Salt equivalent: 0.1 g/100g; 0.1 g/pot
Calcium: 133 mg/100 g; 120 mg/pot


My opinion

To be honest I haven't read the ingredients until now. I check the ingredients of biscuits and crisps, but I just put these into my basket. The thickners and acidity regulators make me worry. I don't think they are too healthy. I will check the ingredients of other yogurts made for children.
They don't contain bits, so you can give to babies as well. I found this product so delicious and yummy and my children love it. I am confused. They love it and will ask me to buy them more, but it is not healthy enough. I have to check the other ones. I hope I will find one that doesn't contain so much exotic ingredients.

According to Wikipedia Guar gum is the ground endosperm of guar beans. Its seeds are dehusked, milled and screened to obtain the guar gum. It looks like plain flour and has almost 8 times the water-thickening potency of cornstarch. Chemically it is a polysaccharide composed of the sugars galactose and mannose. It is not self-gelling but calcium (or borax) can cross-link guar gum to make it to gel. Guar gum is effective in promoting regular bowel movements and decreases cholesterol levels. In the summer of 2007 high dioxin level was found in guar gum. Dioxin is a chemical compound used in fertilisers and fungicides. It can be carcinogenic in large doses.

According to Wikipedia Xanthane gum is a polysaccharide too that is produced by fermentation of glucose or sucrose by the Xanthomonas campestris bacterium. Xanthane gum produces a large increase in the viscosity of liquids. Most often it appears in salad dressings, sauces, ice creams, beverages. It helps to prevent oil separation by stabilizing the emulsion, although it is not an emulsifier. It helps suspend solid particles such as spices, creates pleasant texture in ice creams. You can find also in toothpastes where it serves as a binder to keep the product uniform. It is used also in gluten-free baking. Some people have allergic symptoms to Xanthane gum: intestinal gripes, diarrhea, temporary high blood pressure, migraine headaches. Some people allergic to corn may also react to Xanthane gum.

I wanted to give 5 stars to this product, but after checking the ingredients I cannot give more that 3 stars. I will check the other children yogurts and add my info to this review.

After checking we switched to Müller Little Stars.

Thanks for reading!