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Consumer reports baby food maker


Homemade vs. store-bought baby food — Which is safer?

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Jodi Mohrmann, Managing Editor of special projects

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Tags: Consumer Reports, Health, baby food

Homemade versus store-bought baby food, which is safer? Consumer Reports dug into one new report and the answer might surprise you.

Homemade vs. store-bought baby food: Which is safer? The answer might surprise you.

According to a new report from Healthy Babies Bright Futures, homemade baby food might pose the same problems as store-bought.

“When it comes to detectable levels of heavy metals, the report finds that homemade baby food is no safer than store-bought,” said Consumer Reports’ Kevin Loria.

Those heavy metals include lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. The biggest offender is foods made from rice, such as rice puffs and rice cereals.

While heavy metals naturally exist in the environment, most metals in food come from farming practices or industrial pollution. And certain ingredients -- like rice and spinach -- are more likely to absorb certain metals,” Loria explained.

Exposure to heavy metals in children has been linked to behavioral issues, lowered IQs, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The Food and Drug Administration has announced plans to set limits on metals in certain foods. But until that takes effect, there are ways for parents to keep their children’s food safe.

Make sure your kids eat a healthy variety of foods, including fruits and vegetables, such as broccoli and sweet potatoes.

Focus on meals made with foods that tend to have lower levels of heavy metals, such as bananas, oranges, eggs, and meats. In addition:

  • Eat fresh or frozen fruits instead of canned.

  • Replace infant rice cereal with infant oatmeal.

  • Peel sweet potatoes and carrots to reduce heavy metal levels.

  • Offer tap water instead of fruit juices.

And if you’re used to giving your kids rice puffs as a snack, Consumer Reports recommends offering your kids applesauce, fruit, yogurt, or cheese instead.

All Consumer Reports material Copyright 2022 Consumer Reports, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Consumer Reports is a not-for-profit organization which accepts no advertising. It has no commercial relationship with any advertiser or sponsor on this site. For more information visit consumer.org.

5 Best Baby Food Makers, Mashers, and Mills of 2022

Written by Jessica Booth

Updated September 20, 2022

While there’s nothing wrong with store-bought baby food, it’s hard to ignore the advantages of homemade baby food. It’s also hard to ignore how intimidating this can seem. Cooking up batches of your own baby food can seem like a frustrating, time-consuming experience, but the truth is that the right gear can make a huge difference. In the over-saturated market of baby essentials, it can be difficult to find the food maker that’s right for your family. To help you decide, we spent days researching and testing the most popular models, pureeing up six different fruits and vegetables any growing baby would love.

While there were plenty of great options, the Beaba Babycook 4-in-1 (available at Amazon) is our clear favorite. A convenient space-saver, it can steam cook and puree with ease. For a less expensive option, the NutriBullet Baby (available at Amazon) doesn't offer steaming capabilities, but its ease of use and included storage containers earned it our pick for best value.

Editor's Note

The recommendations in this guide are based on thorough product and market research by our team of expert product reviewers. The picks are based on examining user reviews, product specifications, and, in some limited cases, our experience with the specific products named.

Credit: Beaba

The Beaba is an all-in-one steamer and blender that makes consistently smooth purees.

Best Overall

Beaba Babycook

The Beaba Babycook 4-in-1 is a compact all-in-one option that both steams and purees your food. It features a straightforward design that makes it very easy to use and was by far the quietest of the bunch when it came to the blending portion of the food making. It steams in minutes, and with a touch of a button, creates smooth and creamy purees in under one minute. You’re able to easily control the amount of water that goes into making your purees, which is a nice plus. You don’t need to figure out how much time to use, either—just add the correct amount of water, press the steam button, and it figures it out for you and alerts you when it’s done.

The Beaba is very easy to clean and most of the parts are dishwasher safe, although I will say that the biggest con for me is that you can’t see inside the water tank, which makes it pretty impossible to check if there's mold or bacteria growing inside. You can clean this out with a white vinegar descaling method, but still: I would feel more comfortable if I could get a glimpse inside. I found the manual to be almost too vague, although with a close look I was able to figure everything out pretty quickly. And while the steam basket isn’t quite as large as some other models, it makes a sufficient amount of food. I also love the aesthetics here: the Babycook is offered in a few different colors, like a rose gold model with gold touches that look surprisingly chic for a baby food blender. All in all, it makes excellent purees and doesn’t compromise on style, so it was hard to beat.

Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

The Baby Bullet produces smooth purees and is reasonably priced.

Best Value

NutriBullet Baby

The Nutribullet Baby is not an all-in-one food maker: it doesn’t steam cooky, it just purees it. That said, it’s still a terrific value thanks to all of the parts and pieces. It’s just a blender, but it also comes with a freezer tray with a lid, six storage cups, a short cup, and a recipe book. The compact design makes for easy storage, doesn't take up a lot of counter space, and the extra BPA-free containers are very helpful when it comes to putting away the food you just made.

Using it is very simple: you put the blender bowl on the power base, press down, and it blends. It’s fairly easy to clean and blends quickly. The purees from the Nutribullet certainly weren’t bad, but they weren’t very consistent: some were perfectly smooth, while others had some chunks of food in them, especially at the bottom under the blades due to the shape of the bowl. It holds a decent amount of food, the manual and recipe book were very helpful, and the containers made it easy to pack everything up.

Qooc 4-in-1 Mini Baby Food Maker

At first glance, the QOOC 4-in-1 Food Maker is remarkably similar to the Beaba Babycook, and that’s actually not an incorrect way to describe it. Compact and featuring a stylish, minimalist design, the QOOC shares many of the same features as the Beaba (for about $20 cheaper). It steams and purees in minutes, and works with just one button. It comes with a separate tiny “pitcher” to measure out the amount of water you need.

One of the best things about this one is that the water reservoir has a large opening that not only makes it easy to see inside, but also makes it easier to clean. The instructions were a bit confusing, though: for example, while the food guide inside says to steam fruits for 15 minutes, the button on the front shows that you should steam fruits for 20 minutes. It left me feeling slightly lost on what to do, so I just guessed. Still, the QOOC makes impressively smooth purees. Although, in some cases, they were actually a little soup-like, which wasn’t exactly what I was going for.

With some great features and its small size, the QOOC is a great model, as long as you’re okay with figuring out steam times on your own.

Baby Brezza Glass One Step Baby Food Maker

Featuring a large glass bowl, the Baby Brezza One Step Glass Food Maker is clearly one of the more sturdy and durable options on the market. It’s a bit on the heavier side, but is still pretty compact for the size of the bowl, and has little suction cups on the bottom so that it won’t budge on the counter.

Perhaps the best selling feature of the Baby Brezza is its Steam&Blend option, which allows you to add your food and press one button, then walk away while it seamlessly goes from steaming to blending. I was the most excited about this, but to be honest, was left disappointed: I found that a lot of the steamed water collected in the bowl with the food, so when it was blended, the puree was super watered down, sometimes (like with the blueberries) to the point where it was barely edible. You can choose not to use the Steam&Blend option (when I did this, purees were much better) and try carefully straining the excess liquid out of the food, but this is difficult without a steamer basket. Plus, that’s kind of the selling point of this, so it’s frustrating that it doesn’t work that well.

I also noticed that water was getting into some parts of the bowl that I couldn’t clean, no matter how hard I tried, and that made me worry about mold in the future. It was quite loud when blending, something I definitely wouldn’t do during naptime. Still, it’s worth pointing out that the digital interface is a really nice touch and it’s super intuitive to use.

Pros

  • Durable

  • Easy to use

  • Digital interface

Sage Spoonfuls Sage Baby Puree and Blend

The Sage Spoonfuls Sage Baby Puree and Blend stands out: it’s a stainless-steel immersion blender that comes with a batch bowl. It doesn’t steam food and is more of a hands-on option since you have to hold the immersion blender down. So, if you were thinking of making food while also holding your baby, you probably wouldn’t be able to accomplish that with this option.

There are still plenty of pros, though: the immersion blender worked just as well as the other blenders on this list in making smooth purees, if not better in some cases. Since it’s not a system at all, it’s smaller and easier to store, and doesn’t have to sit out on your counter. It’s easy to clean because there are so few pieces. It’s also very versatile: this is basically just an immersion blender, so you can use it for anything else, not just baby food. As for the cons? Aside from the fact that it requires two hands to use, the blender bowl is rather small and won’t hold too much food (although it’s worth noting you can use any bowl with this). Basically, there are no special features or add-ons to this one, it’s very straightforward.

What You Should Know About Baby Food Makers

Do you need a baby food maker?

Many new parents question whether they really need a baby food maker or not, and the answer truly depends on your lifestyle. If you know that you'll be making most, if not all, of your baby's food, then yes, a baby food maker may be worth investing in. If you know that you won't be making most of their food, then you might want to skip this purchase and opt for just using the blender or food processor you already own instead.

The benefits of a baby food maker

There are plenty of advantages to using a baby food maker. Making your own baby food can save you money in the long run, it can be the healthier option compared to some jarred baby foods, and it allows you to know exactly what is in your baby's food. Combination baby food makers that steam and blend your food make both cooking and cleaning easier and more convenient than using a separate blender and steamer.

What to look for when buying a baby food maker

A baby food maker should make cooking baby food more convenient, so look for a machine that is easy to clean, doesn't come with complicated instructions, and doesn't take up too much space in your kitchen. You should also read reviews and select the baby food maker that does the best job at quickly and effortlessly pureeing even the toughest foods out there.

How long you'll use it: You'll likely use a baby food maker once your baby is six months old and up until your baby is about 12-13 months old, at which point they'll probably stop eating purees.

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Meet the tester

Jessica Booth

Contributor

Jessica is a freelance writer from New York who loves to write about travel, beauty, parenting, and food. She has also written for sites such as Refinery 29, Bustle, Parents, Romper, The Daily Beast, Insider, and Redbook. She spend most of her spare time on Instagram or in the kitchen cooking.

See all of Jessica Booth's reviews

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Why is Nestlé baby food not finding adequate demand?

According to Euromonitor, in 2018, the largest growth in sales in the infant formula segment came from specially formulated foods for babies who have just transitioned from breastfeeding to formula. 123rf.com

Swiss food giant Nestlé is trying to diversify its baby food range and bring innovative products to market. The prospects here are promising. However, many critics are skeptical. And they have a reason to.

This content was published on January 10, 2020 - 11:00

Jessica Davis Pluss (Jessica Davis Pluss)

In the first weeks of life, baby Lindsay Beeson developed a rash, traces of blood on diapers, diarrhea and vomiting. Doctors diagnosed an allergy to cow's milk. Like many other mothers in her situation, Lindsey eliminated milk from her baby's diet and, in addition to breastfeeding, began to gradually introduce complementary foods with hypoallergenic infant formula. In the second year of his life, her son was switched to milk formulas specially designed for babies with allergies. “I knew that they contained a balance of proteins, fats and vitamins similar to the composition of cow's milk. And my son liked the taste,” she said in an interview with swissinfo.ch.

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For global food concerns such as Nestlé, the development and launch of new formulas for infants up to one year of age, including those suffering from allergic reactions, requiring special dietary nutrition or simply picky eaters, is another and very important abroad in expanding the range of baby food.

Speaking to a group of journalists in Lausanne, Thierry Philardeau, Nestlé's Senior Vice President of Strategic Dairy Business Development, recently stated: all babies and their mothers. " From a practical point of view, the concern's strategy is to fill the gaps that arise in the nutrition of mothers and their children, regardless of whether the children receive artificial feeding, natural breastfeeding or combination.

The Swiss concern continues to focus on the nutrition of premature babies and children with special medical conditions. And yet, in recent years, he has consistently increased investment in research and development in order to obtain new products for the nutrition of children after the age of six months of life, that is, for a particularly difficult period when breast milk alone is no longer enough to meet the nutritional needs of a child. , and a complete transition to artificial food has not yet taken place.

Artificial demand or valuable nutritional supplement?

Nestlé baby food has a direct impact on the health of millions of children around the world. More than 150 years have passed since Henri Nestlé (1814-1890) invented Farine Lactée, a baby porridge to support malnourished children. Today, Nestlé is the world's largest infant formula company. It has a fifth market share, followed by Danone in second place.

In recent years there has been a real boom in breastfeeding around the world. The profits of infant formula companies have fallen. Therefore, today these companies rely on "older babies" and on related products. According to EuromonitorExternal link , in 2018, the largest growth in sales in the infant formula segment was provided by specially formulated nutrition for children who have just switched from breastfeeding to artificial food.

External content

Today in supermarkets in almost every country in the world you can find the widest range of types of milk powder, dairy product concentrates and breast milk substitutes for children under one year old. It would seem great, but not everyone is satisfied with these products. Activists such as Patti Rundall are sounding the alarm. Since the 1980s, she has served as Director of Strategic Policy for Baby Milk ActionExternal link , an international network of baby food organizations. Since her filing, the world has experienced a number of very large litigations in connection with the production and sale of artificial nutrition from Nestlé Corporation.

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What's the problem? It turns out that, according to her, the Nestlé and Danone concerns are the main initiators of the promotion of baby food for babies and milk formulas for children aged from 6 months to 3 years and further up to the age of nine. They use the same or very similar symbols (logos) as on infant formula, so parents, when they see the brand name, believe that they have a whole product line in front of them. However, new formulas for infant formula are just a marketing ploy.

“There is nothing new in them, so all milk formulas, starting with formulas “6 months+”, as well as formulas for children from 1 year to 3 years and older, are simply not needed, they are just a way to get more money out of parents’ pockets ”, P. Randall told swissinfo. ch. “This product should be removed from the market. But the market has become so huge that no one wants to do it, although everyone knows that they are dealing with violations of the provisions of the WHO Guidelines to stop inappropriate forms of promotion of foods for infants and young children.

More precisely, we are talking about the International Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, adopted by WHO in 1981. This document sets standards for ethically responsible marketing, including restrictions on advertising, sponsorship, and giving away free samples of infant formula. The default document proceeds from the fact that, anyway, only breastfeeding is the ideal nutrition for a healthy baby up to six months, which, in fact, Danone, Nestlé and their opponents agree with.

Pressure from the baby food industry

Controversy arises at the gray zone stage, when complementary foods with other foods and drinks can be introduced at about six months of age and older. You can enter, but is it necessary? And this is where the problem lies. Don't concerns create artificial demand, beneficial primarily to themselves? It is really difficult to understand this, the information received by parents from baby food manufacturers, doctors and staunch opponents of factory baby food is often contradictory.

Some scientific studies state that so-called “Third level milk formulas” for children aged one to three years are not needed, but they can help compensate for nutritional deficiencies, especially in cases of malnutrition or lack of certain nutrients substances in local foods”. So what's wrong with giving kids a better chance at delicious and most importantly healthy food?

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Criticism of Nestlé has a long history. About forty years ago, breastfeeding activists first vociferously accused Nestlé of using an aggressive marketing strategy that resulted in mothers declining breastfeeding in favor of infant formula. The ensuing widespread boycott of Nestlé products led to major changes in the formation of marketing strategies.

However, Catherine Watt of the Geneva group La Leche LeagueExternal link , an international public private secular organization to support breastfeeding mothers, says that many women today stop breastfeeding earlier than they should. Why? “This is happening as a result of veiled pressure from the baby food industry, which has an arsenal of advertising in favor of various types of complementary foods and infant formula,” she said. “If there are doubts about whether the baby has enough breast milk, and there is some kind of milk formula in the closet, you just try to use it. And now you are already “under the hood” of the industry.”

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In developing countries, the consequences of such a move can be most dramatic. CTO of the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India BPNIExternal link JP Dadhich is particularly concerned about the high cost of these products, their negative environmental impact and potential risks of infection.

“We can't be sure about the quality of the water that these formulas are based on, which increases the risk of diarrhea. And this is in conditions when there is now enough milk of animal origin in India. After boiling, it is completely safe, in addition, it is quite acceptable here, taking into account the cultural traditions of the country. For children, it is better to use complementary foods from quality local products, continuing to breastfeed the child after 6 months.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) is also concerned that infant formula designed specifically for babies after one year of age can shorten the duration of breastfeeding by depriving the baby of important nutrients, especially if the products are labeled similarly and are promoted as more healthy alternative to breastfeeding due to the increased content of vitamins and minerals.

The devil is in the details

All this has caused and continues to cause heated debate between governments and food company lobbyists. “One of the challenges with regard to 'level 2' formula (after 6 months) is the need to understand whether foods for children aged 1 to 3 years should be considered specifically as 'substitutes' for breast milk, and if not, what should they be called.” Tom Heilandt of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, an international food standards group, tells us this.

Some governments would like to ban these formulas so as not to completely "kill" the motivation to breastfeed, while other countries want to leave the choice to consumers. India is a country with some of the most stringent regulations. Here, any products intended specifically for children under the age of two years are categorized as breast milk substitutes and thus fall under the international “Code of Regulations” of WHO. Group NestléExternal link says it has gone further than many other players in the industry by operating under European Union rules coming into effect in 2020.

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At the same time, Nestlé opposes any additional regulation, arguing, based on studies already conducted in many countries, that any artificial nutrition alternative will still be less healthy than any mixture. “There is no point in restricting nutrition advertising for children under the age of one, especially when there are almost no restrictions on advertising Coca-Cola and other fast food anywhere,” says T. Filardo.

Always guilty?

Nestlé recognizes that it needs to proceed with caution given its history of high-profile scandals. “It’s not for you to sell chocolate, we have a huge responsibility. Every year we produce formula for 15 million children, which is equal to the population of the Netherlands,” says T. Filardo. At the same time, the company has already updated its marketing policy several times by creating a system for reporting violations and annually providing reports on compliance with its obligations.

Unlike the pre-1980s era, the company is very clear that "breastfeeding is the best feeding option." At the same time, she wants her food products for children to be almost in no way inferior in quality to breast milk. Critics say it's not enough to be "the lesser of the evils. " However, Nestlé argues that if the company is forced out of the baby food market, companies with more than a dubious reputation will take its place. This is especially true in countries with weak regulatory environments such as China, Russia, and the United States.

According to WHO, 58 countries around the world still do not have laws restricting the marketing of infant formula for children under one year of age. “I want to complete the story of Nestlé as a company that allegedly kills children,” says T. Filardo. “Let's move on without forgetting the past. We have drawn conclusions, we have changed. I want to look to the future, I don’t want to bear the stigma of the eternal guilty anymore, especially since someone, and our company, has done more in this area than many other companies.”

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Food manufacturers will notify Rospotrebnadzor about the start of work

Nikolai Birzhevoi

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The Ministry of Economic Development has supplemented the list of types of business activities that must be notified to Rospotrebnadzor. In particular, manufacturers of meat, canned fish, baby food and animal feed will have to notify the agency about the start of work.

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The list of types of entrepreneurial activity for which it is necessary to submit a notification to the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare is expanded by a new government decree. The document was published on June 24 and comes into force on July 2, 2013.

The Ministry of Economic Development has prepared changes to the notification rules. The list of types of work and services, the commencement of which must be notified to Rospotrebnadzor, includes legal entities or individual entrepreneurs engaged in:

  • production of meat and meat products;
  • production of meat and poultry products;
  • processing and preserving fish and seafood;
  • manufacture of prepared animal feed;
  • production of cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionery, tea, coffee, spices, condiments;
  • production of baby food and dietary foods;
  • production of other food products.

As we wrote earlier, Rospotrebnadzor approved the regulations for receiving notifications from entrepreneurs about the start of activities. The document also defines the terms and procedure for registration of applications. Notifications to Rospotrebnadzor must be provided by merchants who provide hotel and personal services, conduct retail and wholesale trade, publishing and printing activities. It is also necessary to notify about the start of work in the field of public catering, in the production of dairy, fat-and-oil, flour-grinding and non-alcoholic products. The same applies to the production of textile materials, leather and wood products.

Notifications are accepted by the territorial bodies of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare. A sample application can be obtained by personally contacting the territorial office of the service.

We also reported that it is possible to notify Rospotrebnadzor without a personal visit to the department.

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