Baby Food Safety Tips

BABY FOOD SAFETY TIPS

When we focus on the market demand of competitive food and easily digestible products such as bottled baby foods, baby cereals, , baby snacks and soups and frozen baby foods, we see there are plentiful opportunities. Developing countries such as Asia have large untapped and they need new corners of the world for expansion with evolving food technologies, textures and new flavours to increase the sales progressively. Companies would bend the rules and regulations to occupy a prominent place and thereby earning a large market share.

Different countries have issued guidelines to keep a check and exercise caution on the same globally:

• The 2006 European Commission ‘Foods for Infants and Young Children – Cereals and Other Baby Foods’ directive in Europe sets guidelines for companies operating in its member states and regulates the big and small players on the market. The directive gives minimum and maximum levels for fat ,protein, carbohydrates, mineral substances, vitamins and other nutrients and sets out rules on the labelling of baby foods and composition.
• The use of pesticides is strictly confined and the Commission has set out specific rules on the level of pesticide residues found in infant nutrition, prohibiting the use of very toxic agents in the production of baby foods and constraining any detectable levels of pesticides. Additionally, the directive also regulates the presence of contaminants in the products, specific requirements on the use of food additives, and hygiene guidelines.
• The EU Commission Directive written on baby foods for infants and young children and processed cereal based foods provides the legislative requirements for the composition and labelling of complementary weaning foods for young children and specially infants. The legislation sets rules for the labelling and composition of processed-cereal based foods and other infant foods. These give strict criteria for the levels of vitamins , protein, carbohydrate, minerals and fats to be noticed in baby foods.
• The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in the US applies a similar legislation by ensuring that the manufacturing of the baby food is within the allowed constraints. Long-term success can be brought only by the combination of high-quality products, the fulfilment of any regulation and vigorous product testing in cooperation with parents
• In China, baby food and specially infant formula has been an increasing concern since the 2008 infant formula scandal caused by Sanlu, a Chinese-foreign dairy products’ company which was caught adding illegal additives to its products. This resulted in over a thousand infants ill and two babies even lost their lives. Hence, the Chinese government has been working to improve food regulations specially in the sector of infant formula and even nutritional additives. Bodies of the government such as the Food and Drug Safety Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Administration of Quality, Inspection and Quarantine (“AQISQ”) and the Administration of Industry and Commerce (“AIC”) have taken extensive investigations ,food safety track surveys and random inspections of infant formula producers all over the nation.

Selecting the ingredients for your baby’s food

Always start with ingredients that are of best quality. It is always beneficial to use fresh ingredients whenever you can, but sometimes you can use canned foods or frozen food also. Try to locate products without adding sugar if you are using processed fruits and vegetables, particularly canned fruits packed in syrup.

Never feed your child with these goods or use them in homemade baby food: 

• • Dairy products produced from raw, unpasteurized milk (may contain bacteria that can cause severe diseases) ; 
  • Honey (makes your baby at high danger for botulism, a very hazardous disease) ; 
  • Home-canned food (may contain damaging bacteria if improperly canned) ;

Preparing Baby Food

Since babies are at a greater danger of developing a foodborne disease than older kids or healthy adults, following these rules closely is especially crucial:

• Wash your hands and any food preparation facilities.
• To prevent cross-contamination, use distinct cutting boards for meat, poultry and fish and non-meat products.
• Thoroughly wash new fruits and vegetables under clean, running water. Even if you’re planning to peel a fruit or vegetable like cantaloupe or squash, make sure you first wash it.
• Store raw meat, seafood, poultry, and dairy products instantly after purchase in the coldest portion of the fridge.
• Cook meat, fish and poultry to kill any possible bacteria. Use a meat thermometer and boil all meats at an inner temperature of at least 160oF, fish at a minimum temperature of 145oF and all white meat poultry at an inner temperature of at least 165oF.

Reheating and Storing `Baby Food

Most importantly: always throw away in the baby’s dish any unfamiliar remaining food!

Alternative ways to Keep Food Safe

• • Never allow cooked food to stand at room temperature for more than two hours (or more than one hour at temperatures above 95 degrees)• Do not store prepared baby food in the refrigerator for more than 24 hours for meat, poultry, fish and eggs or for fruit and vegetables for more than 48 hours.
  • Reheat refrigerated or frozen food thoroughly to 155 oF indoor temperature.
  • Never defrost infant food by leaving it in standing water or at room temperature.
  • Place the prepared baby food in labelled and dated containers to freeze securely. You can freeze it up to a month.

Following are some hygiene tips to be observed while preparing solid foods for small babies.

1. Hygiene in the Kitchen

There is no need to sterilize anything that is used in a kitchen to cook baby food. A few easy items like washing hands before preparing the baby dinner, altering and washing cooking cloths at periodic intervals, and cleaning and washing highchairs, baby bibs, and warm water eating area will be enough. Small kids eating finger food must be created to wash their hands on the same lines each time before eating.

2. Tips for Serving Food to babies hygienically

Care must be practiced during the reheating of baby food to guarantee that it pipes warm throughout. It should be totally cooled afterwards before being fed to the child. It is possible to test the water temperature by putting a tiny amount of food on the wrist. In case of using a microwave to heat up baby food, food must be stirred well to prevent warm spots. Only once must baby food be heated. It is also important to always look for indications and to taste baby food, if possible, to guarantee that it is well cooked.

3. Tips for Storing Baby Food hygienically

The best for children is freshly baked food. However, food can be prepared and stored in advance for any reason whatsoever if this is not feasible. Before storing, food must be fully cooled. Food not consumed within 24 hours must be frozen instantly after cooking.

Remaining food must be tossed away in a baby bowl and never reused.

Harmful Contaminants

Commercial food has distasteful attributes such as poor quality and uniform taste. Hence when commercial baby food is used by parents, they end up also giving their baby a variety of contaminants.

A recent study at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) conducted tests of 190 samples of commercial baby food. The most common pesticide amongst the five pesticides found in the samples were, organophosphate methamidiphos and organophosphate acephate. These were present in high quantities of 9.4 percent and 7.8 percent respectively of the samples. Additionally, The EWG tested baby food samples from the year 1995 and found the two organophosphates in similar concentrations surprisingly. Therefore, there has been no change found and the facade that there is continuous improvement in baby food by manufacturers to make it safer is mere wishful thinking unincentivized by legislation.

There are frozen and processed products called as “Baby Ready Meals” which are ready once they are reheated. One important issue amongst many with these is that they consistently contain heat-induced contaminant ‘furan’, which is a toxic compound that is linked to cancer. Many commercial baby foods, particularly jarred varieties, contain a colourless, flammable liquid with a sweet odour called benzene.

Harmful Packaging

The packaging of commercial baby food has been found to be waste creating and dangerous by itself. For example, it has been found by several studies that the lids of baby food jars contain the hormone disrupter Bisphenol-A (BPA) which has been linked to issues such as cancer and infertility, even when extremely low levels of exposure were found. BPA leaches from the baby food containers into their contents.

There is one harmful product found in the commercial baby food packaging responsible for exposing babies to a carcinogenic toxin called semi carbazide (SEM). This toxin has been linked to cancer in animals gets into the baby food through the plastic gaskets used to seal glass jars with metal twist-off lids. Additionally, the transfer of mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) from recycled packages is another area of concern. Either directly or indirectly, many different types of MOSH chemicals are used by the baby food industry and hence a majority of baby foods become contaminated with them. These chemicals are easily absorbed by the body but are not broken down. These chemicals can accumulate in organs such as the heart, liver, and lymph nodes and hence may cause them to become diseased or damaged. Recent studies of commercial baby food found MOSH in all of the samples tested. Pouches are also not without their risks. The caps pose a serious choking hazard to babies and toddlers. Hence, packaging plays an important role in determining safety of baby health food.