Are processed fruit bars that are made up of purely dried fruit allowed?
Bars that are purely dried fruit in its original form (i.e. not processed and extruded into a bar or leather) count as fruit and are therefore permitted under the standards. Processed fruit bars have been excluded from food provision during the school day because the physical characteristics of processed fruit bars are changed during processing. The sugar has been released from the fruit cells, and the sticky texture of such products means that they are more likely to adhere to teeth, causing increased risk of tooth decay. Be aware of the fact that fruit bars classed as one of the recommended 5 a day portions only indicates how much fruit a bar contains, not the processes used during production or what the remaining non fruit proportion of a bars ingredients are, which may be high in sugar, fat or salt.
