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Purpose: The first 1000 days of life are critical for long-term health outcomes, and there is increasing concern about the suitability of commercial food products for infants, toddlers, and children. This study evaluates the compliance of UK commercial baby food products with WHO Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model (NPPM) guidelines. Methods: Between February and April 2023, data on 469 baby food products marketed for infants and children under 36 months were collected from the online platforms of four major UK supermarkets. Nutritional composition and labelling information were assessed using the NPPM criteria. Quantitative analyses were performed using IBM SPSS, presenting data as means with 95% confidence intervals. Results: While 75% of products met the minimum energy content criteria, compliance with total sugar content and protein requirements was 59% and 94%, respectively. Overall, only 45% of products adhered to NPPM nutritional standards. Promotional assessments revealed that no products met the requirements for appropriate nutrient, health, or marketing claims. Furthermore, only 5% of products included adequate statements in support of breastfeeding. Conclusion: This study highlights the need for stricter nutritional and promotional standards in the UK baby food industry to foster healthier early dietary habits. Regulatory measures are essential to align commercial baby food products with WHO recommendations, reducing inappropriate claims and improving nutritional quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The exploitative marketing of commercial milk formula (CMF) reduces breastfeeding, and harms child and maternal health globally. Yet forty years after the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes (The Code) was adopted by WHO member states, many countries are still to fully implement its provisions into national law. Furthermore, despite The Code, worldwide CMF markets have markedly expanded. In this paper, we adopt Brazil as a case study to understand the power of the baby food industry's marketing and corporate political activity, and how this influences the country's 'first-food system' in ways that promote and sustain CMF consumption. Methods: We used a case study design, drawing data from from documents and key informant interviews (N = 10). Results: Breastfeeding rates plummeted in Brazil to a historic low in the 1970s. A resurgence in breastfeeding from the mid-1980s onwards reflected strengthening political commitment for a national policy framework and breastfeeding protection law, resulting in-turn, from collective actions by breastfeeding coalitions, advocates, and mothers. Yet more recently, improvements in breastfeeding have plateaued in Brazil, while the industry grew CMF sales in Brazil by 750% between 2006 and 20. As regulations tightened, the industry has more aggressively promoted CMF for older infants and young children, as well as specialised formulas. The baby food industry is empowered through association with powerful industry groups, and employs lobbyists with good access to policymakers. The industry has captured the pediatric profession in Brazil through its long-standing association with the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics. Conclusion: Brazil illustrates how the baby food industry uses marketing and political activity to promote and sustain CMF markets, to the detriment of breastfeeding. Our results demonstrate that this industry requires much greater scrutiny by regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reliance on milk replacers by zoos was vital for the creation of breeding programmes that would fill spaces of captive animal spectacle in the early twentieth century. The creation of the baby food industry and pressures to use these scientifically developed products enabled the rise of captive animal breeding programmes, which routinely removed infants from their mothers and placed them in the hands of humans who immediately put them on a bottle. This article explores the intersecting infant formula foodways of human and nonhuman animals in cages and on stages where baby animals became spectacle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) reduces breastfeeding, and harms child and maternal health globally. Yet forty years after the World Health Assembly adopted the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (The Code), many countries are still to fully implement its provisions into national law. Furthermore, despite The Code, commercial milk formula (CMF) markets have markedly expanded. In this paper, we adopt the Philippines as a case study to understand the battle for national Code implementation. In particular, we investigate the market and political strategies used by the baby food industry to shape the country's 'first-food system', and in doing so, promote and sustain CMF consumption. We further investigate how breastfeeding coalitions and advocates have resisted these strategies, and generated political commitment for a world-leading breastfeeding policy framework and protection law (the 'Milk Code'). We used a case study design and process tracing method, drawing from documentary and interview data. Results: The decline in breastfeeding in the Philippines in the mid-twentieth Century associated with intensive BMS marketing via health systems and consumer advertising. As regulations tightened, the industry more aggressively promoted CMFs for older infants and young children, thereby 'marketing around' the Milk Code. It established front groups to implement political strategies intended to weaken the country's breastfeeding policy framework while also fostering a favourable image. This included lobbying government officials and international organizations, emphasising its economic importance and threats to foreign investment and trade, direct litigation against the government, messaging that framed marketing in terms of women's choice and empowerment, and forging partnerships. A resurgence in breastfeeding from the mid-1980s onwards reflected strengthening political commitment for a national breastfeeding policy framework and Milk Code, resulting in-turn, from collective actions by breastfeeding coalitions, advocates and mothers. Conclusion: The Philippines illustrates the continuing battle for worldwide Code implementation, and in particular, how the baby food industry uses and adapts its market and political practices to promote and sustain CMF markets. Our results demonstrate that this industry's political practices require much greater scrutiny. Furthermore, that mobilizing breastfeeding coalitions, advocacy groups and mothers is crucial to continually strengthen and protect national breastfeeding policy frameworks and Code implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The global milk formula market has 'boomed' in recent decades, raising serious concerns for breastfeeding, and child and maternal health. Despite these developments, few studies have investigated the global expansion of the baby food industry, nor the market and political practices corporations have used to grow and sustain their markets. In this paper, our aim is to understand the strategies used by the baby food industry to shape 'first-foods systems' across its diverse markets, and in doing so, drive milk formula consumption on a global scale. We used a theoretically guided synthesis review method, which integrated diverse qualitative and quantitative data sources.Results: Global milk formula sales grew from ~US$1.5 billion in 1978 to US$55.6 billion in 2019. This remarkable expansion has occurred along two main historical axes. First, the widening geographical reach of the baby food industry and its marketing practices, both globally and within countries, as corporations have pursued new growth opportunities, especially in the Global South. Second, the broadening of product ranges beyond infant formula, to include an array of follow-up, toddler and specialized formulas for a wider range of age groups and conditions, thereby widening the scope of mother-child populations subject to commodification. Sophisticated marketing techniques have been used to grow and sustain milk formula consumption, including marketing through health systems, mass-media and digital advertising, and novel product innovations backed by corporate science. To enable and sustain this marketing, the industry has engaged in diverse political practices to foster favourable policy, regulatory and knowledge environments. This has included lobbying international and national policy-makers, generating and deploying favourable science, leveraging global trade rules and adopting corporate policies to counter regulatory action by governments.Conclusion: The baby food industry uses integrated market and political strategies to shape first-foods systems in ways that drive and sustain milk formula market expansion, on a global scale. Such practices are a major impediment to global implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, and other policy actions to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. New modalities of public health action are needed to negate the political practices of the industry in particular, and ultimately to constrain corporate power over the mother-child breastfeeding dyad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrition is one of the most important factors influencing the health of the population. It ensures the normal development of children, promotes disease prevention, prolongs life and creates conditions for adequate human adaptation to the natural environment. Therefore, the issue of healthy nutrition of children is one of the most important in the implementation of social policy. Successfully solving the problem of baby food depends on creating the conditions for the production of quality and safe food. The development of the domestic baby food industry is one of the most important issues that need to be addressed at the state level. Functional baby foods should contain as a component drugs or proposed to prevent or mitigate the disease of a child with special dietary needs, including in the case of congenital or acquired disorders of absorption of certain nutrients, their intolerance or certain diseases. The quality of baby food is the degree of perfection of the properties and characteristics of baby food, which are able to meet the physiological needs of the child's body in food based on their chemical composition and energy value of raw materials and components, which are included in the prescription bookmark. According to current regulations in Ukraine and China there are different requirements for quality and safety of products and raw materials used in food production. Technological characteristics and physico-chemical composition of raw materials affect the use of processing processes, which allows to preserve the maximum of native substances. The results of research of physicochemical composition and quality indicators of raw materials of plant origin, which are traditionally grown in Ukraine and China, will be included in the roadmap of a comprehensive program to create flexible technologies and range of functional products, long-term storage for children of different ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malting is a beneficial approach to improve the nutritional value of cereals used in infant preparations. Malted finger millet and amaranth might be considered as potentially appropriate gluten-free alternatives for common wheat-based weaning products, especially in case of those suffering from celiac disease. In this study, the effects of germination temperature and duration on the main nutrients of malted finger millet and amaranth, are evaluated and optimized. Grains were germinated for 24, 36 and 48 h at 22, 26 and 30 °C. In the case of finger millet, germinating for 48 h at 30 °C resulted into 17% increase in protein availability, 10% increase in total energy and 60% reduction in resistant starch (RS). For amaranth, germinating for 48 h at 26 °C was preferable, resulting in 8% increase in protein availability, 11% increase in total energy, 70% reduction in RS and a 10% increase in the linoleic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twentieth-century American parenting and pediatric norms dictated that babies transition from breast milk or formula to solids through a specific progression of flavourless foods. The pre-packaged baby food paradigm started shifting in the 1960s- 1970s when Americans were questioning everything and returning to nature. Baby food, both home-made and commercial, began including a broader range of tastes, textures and flavours. Over the past 40-50 years, American adults have grown in their awareness of gourmet, ethnic and organic foods, not only for themselves but for their babies. The current trend of French influences on American parenting and food choices supports the reawakening trend in the United States of savouring food for pleasure, enjoying home-cooked meals, and demanding diverse high-quality commercial foods, not only for adults but for children as well. This French-infused American food renaissance is reflected in rapidly declining sales of traditional US baby food products, and the subsequent industry reinvention to meet new demands. Baby foods now include pomegranate, kale, quinoa, spices, and other ingredients that were not available in mass-marketed baby foods a decade ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infant formula is one of the most regulated foods in the world. It has advanced in complexity over the years as a result of numerous research innovations. To ensure product safety and quality, analytical technologies have also had to advance to keep pace. Given the rigorous performance demands expected of these methods and the ever-growing array of complex matrixes, there is the potential for gaps to exist in current Official Methods SM and other recognized international methods for infant formula and adult nutritionals. Food safety concerns, particularly for infants, drive the need for extensive testing by manufacturers and regulators. The net effect is the potential for an increase in time- and resource-consuming regulatory disputes. In an effort to mitigate such costly activities, AOAC INTERNATIONAL, under the direction of the Infant Formula Council of America—a trade association of manufacturers and marketers of formulated nutritional products—agreed to establish voluntary consensus Standard Method Performance Requirements, and, ultimately, to identify and publish globally recognized, fit-for-purpose standard methods. To accomplish this task, nutritional reference materials (RMs), representing all major commercially available nutritional formulations, were (and continue to be) a critical necessity. In this paper, various types of RMs will be defined, followed by review and discussion of their importance to the infant formula industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses issues about the economic value of breastfeeding in trade policy worldwide in a period of trade and investment liberalisation as of January 2014. It examines whether international and national policies are sufficient in protecting optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF). Also mentioned is the effectiveness of the International Code to regulate baby food product promotion and marketing, particularly in Australasia and China.

Background and aims Health professionals are frequently asked to advise on aspects of complementary feeding. This study aimed to describe the types of commercial infant foods available in the UK and provide an overview of their taste, texture and nutritional content in terms of energy, protein, carbohydrates, fat, sugar, iron, sodium and calcium. Method All infant foods produced by four main UK manufacturers and two more specialist suppliers were identified during October 2010-February 2011. Nutritional information for each product was collected from manufacturers' websites, products in store and via direct email enquiry. Results Of the 479 products identified in this study 364 (79%) were ready-made spoonable foods; 44% (201) were aimed at infants from 4 months, and 65% of these were sweet foods. The mean (SD) energy content of ready-made spoonable foods was 282 (59) kJ per 100 g, almost identical to breast milk (283(16) kJ per 100 g). Similar spoonable family foods were more nutrient dense than commercial foods. Commercial finger foods were more energy dense, but had very high sugar content. Conclusions The UK infant food market mainly supplies sweet, soft, spoonable foods targeted from age 4 months. The majority of products had energy content similar to breast milk and would not serve the intended purpose of enhancing the nutrient density and diversity of taste and texture in infants' diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Résumé: Les aliments industriels destinés aux nourrissons (4–12 mois) et enfants en bas âge (1–3ans) (en dehors des laits infantiles et des céréales), dénommés aussi aliments pour bébés, se distinguent des aliments industriels non spécifiques conçus pour les adultes et des aliments courants par des critères stricts de composition et de sécurité sanitaire définis par la réglementation française et européenne. Évaluée en France à 89 666 tonnes en 2011 l’offre commerciale pour ces denrées vise à répondre à tous les besoins alimentaires des jeunes enfants : produits laitiers, denrées salées et sucrées, adaptés à l’âge (composition, texture, portions). Les aliments pour bébés ne représentent qu’une part modérée des apports alimentaires des 4–36 mois. Exprimés en pourcentage de l’apport énergétique total, ils constituent en moyenne 7 % de la consommation à 4–5 mois, 28 % à 6–7 mois, 27 % à 8–11 mois, 17 % à 12–17 mois, 11 % à 18–24 mois. Vingt-quatre pour cent des parents n’en donnent jamais à leur enfant, 13 % 1 à 3j/semaine et 63 % 4 à 7j/semaine. Même chez les gros consommateurs, les aliments pour bébés ont peu d’effets sur la qualité nutritionnelle du régime. Cependant, leur emploi retarde et diminue l’utilisation des aliments industriels non spécifiques, ce qui peut contribuer à réduire les risques nutritionnels et toxicologiques liés à la consommation de ces denrées chez les jeunes enfants. Si ces produits sont bien adaptés aux nourrissons et enfants en bas âge, ils doivent rester des aliments de sevrage et de complément à l’alimentation familiale ű faite maison Ƈ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article describes the validation of an analytical method for the detection of 21 mycotoxins in baby food. The analytical method is based on the simultaneous extraction of selected mycotoxins by matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) followed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) using a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometer (QTRAP®). Information Dependent Acquisition (IDA), an extra confirmation tool for samples that contain the selected mycotoxins, was used. The matrix effects were evaluated, and the corrections for the matrix effects were performed using two calibration approaches: external matrix-matched calibration and internal standard calibration. Matrix-matched calibration was ultimately used for accurate quantification, and the recoveries obtained were generally higher than 70%. The analytical method was applied to the analysis of 35 samples of commercial baby foods. No sample exceeded the maximum limit (ML) fixed by the European Union for these mycotoxins in baby food. However, this survey highlighted the occurrence of mycotoxins in cereal-based infant foods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Enterobacter sakazakii is an occasional contaminant of powdered infant formula that can cause rare but severe foodborne infections in infants. To determine optimal methods for the detection and identification of E. sakazakii, 38 naturally contaminated samples from infant formulae factories were analyzed by two PCR-based methods and by a method (TS 22964/RM 210) developed by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Dairy Federation (ISO-IDF) using three different commercial chromogenic agars. The ISO-IDF method includes two enrichment steps, plating of the second enrichment broth on E. sakazakii isolation agar (a chromogenic selective agar), picking of five typical colonies for transfer onto tryptone soy agar, and subsequent confirmation of yellow-pigmented colonies by biochemical characterization. Twenty-two of the 38 samples were positive by the culture method. E. sakazakii isolation agar (ESIA; AES Laboratoires), COMPASS agar (Biokar Diagnostics), and Druggan-Forsythe-Iversen agar (Oxoid) compared favorably with violet red bile glucose agar (VRBG, a selective medium for Enterobacteriaceae), with positive predictive values of 86.96, 88, and 74.07%, respectively, in contrast to 47.83% for VRBG. One additional positive sample was detected using the nonpatented real-time PCR method evaluated, and those results were in 97.3% concordance with the ISO-IDF results. Some discrepancies between the results of the DuPont Qualicon BAX system and those of the ISO-IDF method could be explained by heterogeneity of contamination and sampling. Thus, both PCR-based systems were suitable for detecting and specifically identifying E. sakazakii within 1 to 2 days, and COMPASS agar and ESIA could be used interchangeably as a first-step medium to isolate presumptive E. sakazakii colonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was done to determine survival characteristics of Enterobacter sakazakii in four milk-based and two soybean-based powdered infant formulas. A 10-strain mixture of E. sakazakii was inoculated into the six infant formulas at water activity (aw) 0.25 to 0.30, 0.31 to 0.33, and 0.43 to 0.50 to give low (0.80 log CFU/g) and high (4.66 to 4.86 log CFU/g) populations. At an initial population of 0.80 log CFU/g, E. sakazakii was detected by enrichment in six of six, four of six, and one of six formulas stored for 12 months at 4, 21, and 30°C, respectively. In four of six formulas at aw values of 0.25 to 0.30, initially high populations decreased significantly (P ≤ 0.05), although by less than 1 log CFU/g, within 6 months at 4°C. Populations decreased significantly in all formulas in the aw range of 0.25 to 0.50 during storage for 1 month at 21 or 30°C and again between 1 and 6 months in most formulas. Significant reductions occurred between 6 and 12 months in some formulas. At all storage temperatures, reductions in populations tended to be greater in formulas at aw 0.43 to 0.50 than in formulas at aw 0.25 to 0.30. The rate of inactivation of E. sakazakii in formulas was not markedly influenced by formula composition. Cells from mucoid and nonmucoid colonies formed by two strains on violet red bile glucose agar supplemented with pyruvate were inoculated into a milk-based powdered infant formula and a soybean-based powdered infant formula having a high aw range of 0.43 to 0.86 and stored at 4, 21, and 30°C for up to 36 weeks. With few exceptions, populations of both strains decreased significantly in both formulas within 2 weeks at all temperatures; rates of death increased with increased aw and storage temperature. The presence of mucoidal extracellular materials on the surface of E. sakazakii cells was not associated with protection against death. This study shows that the retention of viability of E. sakazakii in powdered infant formula is affected by aw and temperature. Increases in both parameters cause an increase in the rate of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) of commercial baby foods ( n = 20) and fruit juices ( n = 15) (among them 15 and eight products labelled 'organic', respectively) from 11 different suppliers, analyses performed by coupled capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed the presence of 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2-EHA), a known teratogenic compound. 2-EHA was found in 80 and 73% of the baby foods and fruit juices, respectively. Amounts ranged from 0.25 to 3.2 mg kg -1 (average, 0.55 mg kg -1 ) and from 0.01 to 0.59 mg l -1 (average, 0.18 mg l -1 ) in baby foods and fruit juices, respectively. GC-MS analysis of the SDE extracts obtained from the plastic gaskets inside the metal lids of the samples under study revealed the gaskets to be the origin of 2-EHA. As shown from the non-contaminated samples under study, obviously technology is available to avoid 2-EHA contamination of glass jar-packed food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the effects of biotechnology on children's health. Background on the evolution of biotechnology; Opinion of Jeremy Rifkin of the Foundation on Economic Trends on the dangers of biotechnology; Impact of the media's attention to biotechnology on the baby food company Gerber Foods International.

This is the first known study of dioxins, dibenzofurans, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in commercial American bottled baby foods purchased in the United States. Dioxins, persistent chlorinated organics, are inadvertent by-products of chemical synthesis or combustion and are toxic to humans and other animals. Almost all dioxins enter the body through food consumption, specifically from food products containing animal fat. Major-brand bottled baby food containing meat was purchased at U.S. supermarkets and 12 pooled samples were analyzed for dioxins using high-resolution gas chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Low levels of dioxins were found in these products. The range was from 28 to 226 parts per quadrillion (ppq) dioxin toxic equivalents (TEQ). This is reported on a whole or wet weight (as eaten) basis. As a comparison, findings of dioxins in U.S. supermarket meat ranged from 28 to 540 ppq. Although dioxin levels are generally lower in these baby foods than in meat or poultry, the presence of dioxins in commercial baby food containing meat is cause for concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses issues related to pediatric care. Discussion on vincristine poisoning; Value of the neonatal neurological examination; Advantage of the infant food/drug industry; Information on growth disturbances in hyperkinetic children.

Editorial. Comments on the resolution by the World Health Organization (WHO) urging health institutions and member states to prevent the baby food industry from providing financial or other support for health workers in order to promote breast feeding. Features of the resolution; Features of the baby food industry's use of health professionals to promote their products.

Discusses contaminated baby food jars. Details of how the toxic material is in the jar; Suggestions to parents by a high level scientific committee of a European food safety agency; Decision by the government to allow the continued distribution of the jars.

Reports on the efforts of infant-food manufacturers to lobby the World Health Organization (WHO) to delay any change to its policy on the optimal length of exclusive breast feeding. Provisions of current WHO guidelines for complementary feeding; Outlook for the conclusion of a WHO study of infant growth; Efforts of the WHO to adopt policies which reflect public health rather than corporate interests.

Reports on allegations that the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) plans to form partnerships with infant formula manufacturers that do not comply with the international code of marketing breast milk substitutes. Concern among infant feeding specialists that relationships between international health agencies and the private sector are inappropriate; Importance of UNICEF as an independent advocate of human rights and health.

Reports on the legal action faced by manufacturers of baby fruit and herbal drinks in Great Britain. Manufacturers being sued; Effects of baby fruit and herbal drinks to babies teeth; Process of the decay of tooth as a result of drinking baby drinks.