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To troubleshoot, save time at the end of the day or on the move: baby food jars make our life easier! But are they safe and healthy for our children? Infant feeding regulations normally ensure the best for our infants.
Baby potty: all you need to know
For many years, scandals have regularly plagued the food industry. Horse meat in so-called beef lasagna, Norwegian salmon fed on animal meal, animals stuffed with antibiotics… Even if the child food sector does not seem to have been affected by this type of problem, parents need to be reassured about the safety of the food given to their child. Fortunately, baby products are set apart in the food industry world and meet strict EU legislation.
How to choose small pots thanks to European regulations?
« The regulations in force in France since 1976 are much stricter than those concerning conventional foods. », Assures Magali Bocquet, general secretary of the French sector for children’s food (SFAE). Drastic requirements concerning raw materials, but also the production line and finished products.
So, from the field to the plate, a small pot undergoes about 165 checks ! Around a hundred on raw materials, around fifty during manufacture, five on food packaging, and ten on the finished product.
The controls are even more important for infant formula: more than 510 analyzes per day can be achieved. There are so many health requirements that infant products are produced in factories exclusively dedicated to this type of food. All these controls allow optimal traceability. And in case of doubt, it is possible to trace the history of each raw material.
However, if all small pots are subject to the same strict regulations in Europe, not all brands are created equal. Safety from the point of view of hygiene, pesticides, and additives is guaranteed everywhere, but some brands add texture agents rather than 100% fruit or vegetables mixed, do not respect the measure of 50/50 between starches and vegetables… We therefore take care to detail the labels!
Food diversification carried out with the baguette
In infant foods, the levels of nitrates and pesticides are very low.
- For nitrates, the authorized limit is 10 times stricter than in common foods.
- For pesticides, the limits are up to 500 times stricter than for common foods.
- For additives, only 53 are authorized in industrial infant food products compared to around 400 in adult foods. The aim here is to protect the fragile digestive system toddlers.
To achieve such a result, the choice of raw materials is necessarily very thorough. Producers of fruit and vegetables or meat are carefully selected and must comply with draconian specifications.
In addition, manufacturers favor short courses (France or Europe) when possible. ” Relationships that often last for many years and local channels are all means of limiting intermediaries and better controlling sources. », Adds Magali Bocquet. Moreover, manufacturers are communicating more and more about the origin of fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, etc.
On the meat side, the pieces are chosen with care: 100% muscle, no suppressants, no British beef, no animal meal for animal feed. Only certain antibiotics are authorized to treat animals and sufficiently long deadlines must be observed before using their meat.
As for fruits and vegetables: same requirements. Field crops, the most natural pest control methods possible, fields located in areas protected as far as possible from pollution risks, for example far enough from highways, etc.
For children: no preservatives in the purees!
While respecting industrial manufacturing constraints, the recipes try to be as natural as possible. No preservatives, sweeteners, colors, or artificial flavors. Also note that GMOs are prohibited.
To limit the use of additives, manufacturers pay particular attention to the choice of raw materials, for example by favoring varieties of apples that are not too acidic and picked when ripe.
A good food balance between small pot or homemade
Simple recipes, but also balanced from a nutritional point of view to cover the specific needs of children under 3. Here again, the rules are precise. Proteins, lipids and carbohydrates are dosed to ensure harmonious growth. ” Especially concerning the right amount of protein », Notes Dr Laurence Plumey *, nutritionist at Necker hospital (Paris). As a reminder, French children under 3 consume four times too much protein, because parents often give too much meat.
Good protein benchmarks:
- 20 g (or a quarter of an 80 g hamburger) at 1 year
- 25 g of meat at 2 years
- 30 g at 3 years
- A maximum of 100 g at 10 years.
Infant foods also contain little sugar and less than 0,2g of salt per 100g. Suddenly, an infant food is three times less salty than a non-specific dish. And these constraints are not made at the expense of flavors.
4 months: when to start baby food?
No more small jars that all taste the same! In recent years, manufacturers have favored faster cooking processes or at lower temperatures to better preserve flavors and opt for example for forgotten vegetables such as parsnip! This simplification of tastes is a good thing according to Dr Plumey: “ These are the simple recipes that should be favored at the beginning of the diversification so that the baby tastes pure and healthy ».
The recipes for small jars become more complex as our child grows. On the menu from 12 months, risottos, paellas, vegetable fondues, navarins …: ” Note also that the ranges offered by distributors are also reliable and adapted to the needs of the child than the big brands, and they are often less expensive She adds.
Other advantages of baby food jars: textures are adapted to chewing abilities children. This is a good benchmark for when your baby can eat less mixed foods. Moreover, the “special baby” cookies are designed for minimize the risk of taking a wrong turn : their texture is studied so as not to melt too quickly or to break into too large pieces.
Considering all the benefits of infant foods, we might be tempted to give our little ones just that. The best is to bet on variety by offering your child both small industrial pots and small home-cooked meals. ” Infant foods constitute a good alternative to homemadeadds Dr Plumey. And given the food safety, nutritional benefits and practicality of the products, parents really do not have anything to feel guilty about! “
Small organic jar: is it better?
Organic infant products are on the rise. But what are the differences between classic infant foods and their organic stamped counterparts? ” All infant foods, organic or not, are subject to the same strict regulations », Specifies Magali Bocquet. They therefore all have the same guarantees of safety (almost no pesticides or nitrates, no GMOs, etc.) but also come from crops where only natural fertilizers are used, where the crops are made at maturity and where the animals are reared in the open and cared for with natural products.
And are they better in terms of taste? It mostly depends on the tastes of your little one. But choosing small organic jars is also a commitment to the protection of nature, because organic farming excludes synthetic chemical fertilizers, which reduces soil pollution, as well as emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas.
Without forgetting the well-being of the animals: no breeding above ground and priority given to homeopathic medicines or phytotherapy. Even if organic infant foods represent, for the moment, only a small part of the food industry for children, they help to offer a wide choice to satisfy all tastes. In alternating between small pots and homemade, toddlers will become real gourmets!
* Author of “The Big Book of Food”, ed. Eyrolles.