Launching in January 2015, Cow & Gate baby feeding brand is introducing its newest product to the UK baby foods market, the Friends range of savoury vegetable pouches.

The range is designed to make vegetables an essential part of the weaning journey and includes four single vegetable varieties, cauliflower, pea, carrot and broccoli.

Each Friends vegetable pouch is ready to eat, with no added salt, sugar, additives or preservatives. They are designed to be a great way to introduce proteins and carbohydrates to a baby’s diet. The Friends range also has a shelf life of 12 months and can be served ambient or warm.

Available in starter packs (rrp £2.79), ‘discover’ stage single pouch, (rrp 89p), ‘explorer’ stage single pouch, (rrp £1.29) and ‘friends forever’ stage single pouch, (rrp £1.69).

Findings from an infant feeding survey in 2010 show that only 7 % of babies receive vegetables as their first weaning taste, and average consumption of vegetables in toddlers is just 54g, equivalent to 1 per day.

Ruby Huang, brand manager at Cow & Gate Foods said: “By the use of fun, vegetable characters, we hope that parents and babies learn to love veggies for life”

The Friends starter packs use Blippar, on-pack technology, giving parents the option to use their smartphone to scan the packaging and bring to life the Friends vegetable characters.