Heinz is launching a kids' range with 'hidden' vegetables to help youngsters to reach the recommended 5-a-day.

The Heinz Hidden Veg range, available from next week, comes in Hoops, SpagBol and Beanz varieties and will sit alongside the same flavours in Heinz's mainstream offer.

Each contains a puréed mix of vegetables blended into the tomato sauce to help mums smuggle more greens into their kids' diets.

The packaging features vegetable characters playing hide and seek and the slogan 'help you on your way to 5-a-day'.

The Beanz and Hoops variants are priced at 54p per 400g, while the SpagBol will retail at 89p.

"Our feedback has shown that mums want their kids to get all the goodness found in vegetables but without the usual struggle at the dinner table," said Dan Winslet, marketing manager for kids and meals.

He predicted the range would generate first-year sales of £4.5m. Though a level of cannibalisation of the sales of standard products would be unavoidable, he said, it would be minimal as the launch added value to consumers and retailers through the new ingredients and higher price points.

Supermarket buyers have responded positively to the launch, said Winslet, adding that they had "understood clearly the insight behind the range and the role it would play".

"It sounds like a good idea in principle as it will hopefully enable parents to get their younger kids to eat more veg, while giving them a meal they actually want to eat," said MBL trading manager Shaun Quinton.

Hidden vegetables has emerged as a growing trend in children's food, including Annabel Karmel's healthy Eat Fussy range of hidden vegetable pasta.

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