Squeeze packets for baby food

The Best Baby Food Pouches: 2023 Guide Guide

By Anjali Shah on May 27, 2020 · Last Updated on January 2, 2023

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This is your guide to the healthiest and best baby food pouches on the market today! Learn what to avoid, what to buy, and what to look for on the label!

When your little one transitions to solids, a common question is: should I buy pre-made baby food pouches or make baby food at home? While it doesn’t necessarily have to be an either-or, many of you know that I’m a huge fan of homemade baby food because it’s so easy and you can control all of the ingredients your little one is getting. I shared all of the recipes I used for Layla and Ayan in my baby food cookbook and put many on my blog here!

But there are those times when you’re on the go, or pressed for time, and you don’t have any homemade baby food on hand. Which is when baby food pouches can be a quick and convenient meal for your little one! But there are SO many baby food pouches out there, and not all of them are healthy. Many are filled with processed ingredients and added sugars. This can set your baby up to only appreciate sweet foods and reject vegetables as they get older. So what should you buy? And what should you avoid?

This is your guide to the best baby food pouches available today!

Can Some Baby Food Pouches Really Be That Unhealthy?

The food industry knows that babies shouldn’t be having added sugars when they first start solids, right?

Wrong.

As you have probably heard when it comes to buying pre-packaged food, what’s on the front is often misleading. This is also true when it comes to baby food pouches. The front may say spinach and kale, but when you turn it over you’ll find less expensive fillers such as fruit purees, or even fruit juices like apple juice concentrate. Sometimes in a “spinach” pouch the first 3 ingredients are fruits! That’s because, while there may be spinach, the manufacturer is not required to list the percentage of ingredients on the label.

This basically means that your baby is only getting a sweet taste when eating that pouch and isn’t getting exposed to the actual taste of a vegetable. And in those early months of developing tastebuds, getting exposure to all kinds of flavors and tastes is essential to having a baby who doesn’t become a picky eater (who rejects veggies) later on!

Why Is It So Confusing To Find The Best Baby Food Pouches For Your Child?

Ingredient labels are confusing, packaging is misleading. I remember when I first gave Layla a baby food pouch and she devoured it. It was a pouch that said “organic super greens” on it. And I remember thinking: “Yeah! She loves greens!” When I turned it over, the ingredients were: bananas, pear, apple, spinach. What??

It has always really bothered me that most baby food pouches (even the ones promoting veggies) contain fruit. Like why add bananas or pears to a carrot & sweet potato pouch? Carrots and sweet potatoes are already naturally sweet – there is no need for fruit purees to make it even sweeter! Since breast milk is naturally sweet, it’s so important that babies learn the other tastes: bitter, sour, pungent, etc. when they start solids. All the fruit purees are essentially taking over your baby’s taste buds, making them think that if food isn’t sweet it’s not worth eating.

On top of that, many pouches that are fruit-forward and look healthy actually have a ton of unnecessary processed ingredients added. Take a look at Gerber’s Fruit & Yogurt Strawberry Banana Pouch.

Sugar, Carrot Juice Concentrate, Natural Flavor, Gelatin, Two different types of coloring…

These are all major red-flag ingredients in baby food. What in the world is gelatin doing in a pouch that looks vegetarian-friendly? And for a pouch that is supposed to have apples and strawberries (both of which are rich in fiber), there is less than 1g fiber in the entire pouch because of all of the fillers added. AND this pouch has 14g sugar. That’s as much as 1.5 Fun Sized Milky Way bars, or 1/3 of a can of Coke.

That’s why reading labels is so important to finding healthy, packaged baby food! So how do you find those pouches? Skip to the end of this post for my list of the healthiest baby food pouches! But first…

Top 5 Tips To Find The Best Baby Food Pouches

1. Look at the sugar content: Stick to pouches with less than 8g of sugar, but ideally you’ll want to find pouches between 4-6g of sugar. For example, if you look at the front of Ella’s Organic Apples, Green Beans, Raisins pouch, you might think, “green beans are in here, this is great!” But the pouch actually has 13g of sugar from the apples and raisins, while the green beans are a very small addition. 13g sugar is equal to a fun sized milky way bar.
2. Look to see if the ingredient listed on the front of the package is the first ingredient listed on the back. If you’re buying “spinach and apples,” it’s likely that apples are the dominant flavor. Some companies are more transparent than others on the percentage or amount of each ingredient in the pouch.
3. Stick to pouches that ONLY have vegetables. These are harder to find, but they do exist. And they actually taste like vegetables! If you do buy one with veggies & fruits, make sure there is <8g sugar, that vegetables are first, and fruits are last on the ingredients list. Beware of labels that make it seem like the pouch only has veggies: there are some deceptive pouches such as Veggie Blends, and Plum Organics Mighty Veggie pouches. These veggie blends also contain fruit, and often has as much or sometimes more sugar than those labeled as fruit blends.
4. Fiber matters. A good sign that a pouch is either mostly water or fillers is when the fiber content is 1g or less. Aim for pouches with 2g fiber or more.
5. Avoid ingredients likely to be contaminated with heavy metals. Pouches that have apples, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, and rice are particularly at risk. (For more details: A study done by the Clean Label Project in 2017 found that 65% of baby food products had detectable levels of arsenic, 36% detectable levels of lead, and 58% contained detectable levels of cadmium. A more recent study done by Consumer Reports in August of 2018 found that out of 50 nationally distributed baby food products, every single one of them had trace amounts of at least one of the heave metals which included arsenic, lead, or cadmium. Two-thirds of those tested had worrisome amounts of heavy metals, and 15 of the foods could pose potential health risk. The pouches that included rice and/or sweet potato were more likely to have higher amounts of heavy metal, and organic foods were just as likely to contain heavy metals as their non-organic counterparts.)

There are pouches out there that are organic, vegetable-forward, and don’t have any added sugars or fruit juices in them.

So here it is: the healthiest baby food pouches on the market today, the brands I love, and which pouches to buy.

A special shout out to Alison Corey from Keeping the Peas who helped me with some of the research for this post! If a pouch is not listed on this list, it’s likely either high in heavy metals (per the Consumer Reports and Clean Label Project studies) or too high in sugar/fruits/processed ingredients, and should be avoided. But if you have a question about a particular pouch, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments of this post!

What Makes These the Best Baby Food Pouches?

• They contain between 0-8g of natural sugar; and 0g added sugar
• They have 2g fiber or more
• They are all organic
• They don’t carry a risk of heavy metals

The Best Baby Food Pouches (Organized by Brand)

Holle Organic Baby Food: Holle’s baby food is made in Europe and is certified both Organic and Biodynamic, which means that their farming practices go above and beyond just regular organic standards. All of their baby food is unsweetened, I love these flavors from this brand:

• Veggie Bunny: Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, and Peas
• Power Parrot: Pear, Apple, Spinach
• Zebra Beat: Apple, Banana, Beetroot

Cerebelly Organic Custom Pouches: All of Cerebelly’s pouches are super healthy and made with 100% organic ingredients. All of their pouches were developed by their founder – a neuroscientist and mom who is dedicated to creating the highest quality baby food possible. The way it works is super simple: you fill out a quick survey that tells Cerebelly your child’s age and what they’re up to. Cerebelly recommends a personalized pack of organic purees with the right blend of nutrients, and it gets shipped right to your door! The best part – they offer 20% off your first order + free shipping with the code: FIRSTORDER20!

Yumi Organic Baby and Toddler Food. Yumi prides itself on creating custom blends for your baby that are 100% organic, made with real food, customized based on your baby’s stage of eating (from Stage 1 purees all the way to snacks and mini meals!). Their food comes in little jars – not pouches – as it’s made fresh and delivered weekly, straight to your door. You can also be confident that Yumi’s food contains no heavy metals, as they partner with trusted farms that are USDA Certified Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified and follow rigorous food safety testing. They look at federal data on soil contamination to find the best farms. Lastly, you get to choose from their range of 60+ unique organic meals you won’t find anywhere else, handpicked by nutritionists to support every milestone! Yumi is also offering 50% off your first order with the code: PICKY50!

Serenity Kids

I love Serenity Kids because ALL of their pouches are under 5 grams of sugar! They’re 100% organic, made with super clean ingredients, has no added preservatives or sugars, and were created by a husband and wife team trying to find a better option for baby food for their daughter. Here are all of hte pouches I love – use the code PICKY to get 15% off your first order!

1. SK – Kabocha Squash, Butternut, Pumpkin, 2g Sugar
2. SK – Butternut Squash + Spinach, 2g Sugar
3. SK – Carrot, Spinach and Basil, 3g Sugar
4. SK – Chicken, Beef, Pork or Wild Salmon (choose your variety here), 2-3g Sugar
5. SK – Carrots, 4g Sugar
6. SK – Sweet Potato + Parsnip, 4g Sugar
7. SK – Mixed Root Veggies, 4g Sugar
8. SK – Sweet Potato + Spinach, 4g Sugar

White Leaf Provisions: WLP is a family business run by a husband and wife team who are bringing the first 100% regeneratively farmed, biodynamic, organic & GMO-Free baby food line to retail in the US! I love their pouches because the ingredients are so pure, and the majority of them have less than 8 grams of sugar per pouch! And, they are offering all of my readers 10% off your purchase by using the code “PICKYEATS” at checkout! My two favorites are:

1. WLP – Pumpkin + Nectarine, 5g Sugar
2. WLP – Peach + Oat, 7g Sugar
3. WLP – Pumpkin + Nectarine, 5g Sugar
4. WLP – Peach + Oat, 7g Sugar

Amara Organic – Note: these do not come in a pouch that is ready to serve – they need to be mixed with water or milk and served in a bowl. But these are still a good option if your baby is ok eating from a bowl/spoon and you need an option that saves you time!

1. Amara – Black Bean and Sweet Corn, 0g Sugar
2. Amara – Peas, Corn, Carrots, 2g Sugar
3. Amara – Potato Kale Mash, 2g Sugar
4. Amara – Pumpkin + Pear, 2g Sugar
5. Amara – Sweet Potato Raspberry, 5g Sugar
6. Amara – Oats and Berries, 5g Sugar

Ella’s Kitchen Organic

1. Ella’s Kitchen Veggie Bean Feast, 1g Sugar
2. Ella’s Spaghetti and Meatball, 1g Sugar
3. Ella’s Beefy Stew, 2g Sugar
4. Ella’s Vegetable and Lentil Bake, 3g Sugar
5. Ella’s Pears, Peas, and Broccoli, 8g Sugar

Beechnut Organics

1. Beechnut Peas & Spinach, 2g Sugar
2. Beechnut Peas, Green Bean and Avocado, 4g
3. Beechnut Corn, Kale, Quinoa, 4g Sugar
4. Beechnut Veggies, Squash, Peas, Pear, 6g Sugar
5. Beechnut Apple, Kiwi, Spinach, 6g Sugar
6. Beechnut Pear, Pumpkin, Cranberry, 7g Sugar
7. Beechnut Veggies, Carrots, Zucchini, Pear, 7g Sugar
8. Beechnut Apple, Black Bean, Raspberry, 8g Sugar

Sprout Organic

1. Sprout – Green bean, peas, butternut squash, 1g Sugar
2. Sprout – Butternut squash, chickpea, quinoa, dates, 4g Sugar
3. Sprout – Butternut Squash, Blueberry, Apple, with Beans, 5g Sugar
4. Sprout – Mixed Berry Oatmeal, 7g Sugar

Plum Organics

1. Plum – Hearty Veggie, Pumpkin, Spinach, Chickpea and Broccoli, 1g Sugar
2. Plum – Hearty Veggie, Corn, Kale, Carrot and Tomato, 1g Sugar
3. Plum – Hearty Veggie, Butternut Squash, Carrot, Chickpea and Corn, 1g Sugar
4. Plum – Hearty Veggie, Carrots, Beans, Spinach and Tomato, 2g Sugar
5. Plum – Stage 3 Meals, Carrot, Spinach, Turkey, Corn, Apple, Potato, Celery, Onion, 2g Sugar
6. Plum – Stage 3 Meals, Carrot, Chickpea, Pea, Beef, Tomato, Celery, Date, Onion, 4g Sugar
7. Plum – Eat Your Colors Red, 5g Sugar
8. Plum – Eat Your Colors Orange, 5g Sugar
9. Plum – Pear, Green Bean and Greek Yogurt, 6g Sugar
10. Plum – Pear Spinach and Pea, 6g Sugar
11. Plum – Pear, Purple Carrot and Blueberry, 7g Sugar
12. Plum – Eat Your Colors Green, 7g Sugar
13. Plum – Mighty 4 – Guava, Banana, Black Bean, Carrot, Oat, 7g Sugar
14. Plum – Mighty 4 – Pear, Cherry, Blackberry, Strawberry, Spinach, 7g Sugar

Happy Family Organics

1. HF – Hearty Meals, Root Vegetables, Turkey and Quinoa, 2g Sugar
2. HF – Hearty Meals, Harvest Vegetables, Chicken and Quinoa, 2g Sugar
3. HF – Hearty Meals, Vegetable Beef Medley, 3g Sugar
4. HF – Green Beans, Spinach, and Pears, 4g Sugar
5. HF – Zucchini, Pear, Chickpea, Kale 5g Sugar
6. HF – Purple Carrots, Banana, Avocado, and Quinoa, 6g Sugar
7. HF – Zucchini, Apples, Peas, Quinoa, and Basil, 6g Sugar
8. HF – Pear, Green Beans, Peas + Super Chia,  6g Sugar
9. HF – Pears, Kale, and Spinach, 7g Sugar
10. HF – Black Beans, Beets and Bananas, 7g Sugar
11. HF – Pears, Pumpkin, Peaches, and Granola, 7g Sugar
12. HF – Pears, Peas, Broccoli, 7g Sugar in the new formulation
13. HF – Pumpkin, Apples, Peached and Cinnamon, 8g
14. HF – Pears, Squash, and Blackberries, 8g Sugar
15. HF – Pears, Zucchini, Peas, 8g Sugar
16. HF – Pears, Pumpkin, Passionfruit, 8g Sugar

Earth’s Best

1. EB – Broccoli, Red Lentil, Oat, 1g Sugar
2. EB – Spinach & Potato, 1g Sugar
3. EB – Carrots & Broccoli, 2g Sugar
4. EB – Winter Squash, 2g Sugar
5. EB – Summer Vegetable Dinner, 2g Sugar
6. EB – Corn & Butternut Squash, 3g Sugar
7. EB – Peas & Brown Rice, 4g Sugar
8. EB – Zucchini & Broccoli Medley, 4g Sugar
9. EB – Spring Vegetables & Pasta, 4g Sugar

Note: If you are in Canada, Baby Gourmet has a couple of good options (e. g. their roasted squash and fruit medley has only 6 grams of sugar!), and their savory meals are low in sugar as well!

I used many of the pouches on this list (prioritizing the flavors listed in bold since those contain only veggies) for my kids when I needed a meal on the go. One thing to note on these pouches is that even if you use them regularly, it’s still important to incorporate a variety of finger foods so your baby becomes familiar with the different textures and flavors of non-pureed food.

I know the baby food aisle can be overwhelming at times, but I hope this post helps you find the healthiest baby food pouches with confidence! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment on this post or contact me here! I respond to every single message I get! 🙂

Looking for the best baby products? Learn more about my favorite kids daily multivitamin that is included in my article on best multivitamin for kids. Or check out these fantastic products for your kids:

• The Best Probiotics for Kids
• Best Baby Cereal Brands
• 80+ Healthy Road Trip Snacks For Kids And Toddlers
• Best Organic Baby Formula

The (ugly) Truth About Baby Food Pouches | Are Homemade Pouches For Babies Good Or Bad | Do Baby Food Packets Grow Mold | Amara

The (Ugly) Truth About Baby Food Pouches

It’s hard to believe that baby food pouches only came on the market about a decade ago, give or take. To put it mildly, these things became insanely popularfast. In 2018, theNew York Times reported that pouches account fora full quarter of the baby food market —wow. This is a pretty staggering rise to prominence, when you think about it. 

In real life, the prominence bears out. I see pouches everywhere, and it’s true: pouches take up at least 25% of the shelf space on the baby food aisle (which is itself a dizzying array of products and options…). 

If you’re a parent, we probably don’t have to tell you why pouches became so popular so quickly: they’re the epitome of convenience. Besides the fact that kidsreally like them, pouches require no prep, no feeding, no refrigeration, no mess, and virtually no clean up. They’re easy to pack, easy to store, easy to hand over, and given that so many of them are organic and/or contain exotic fruits and vegetables, they’re really easy to feel good about. 

But too much of anything is not always a good thing.  

Pouches are a great option for any number of circumstances and situations (more on this shortly…), but according to the best experts, over relying on them is actually problematic. Here’s why: 

1. Pouches don’t teach young children about food and eating.

Every time a baby or toddler sits down to eat presents a learning opportunity in more ways than one. And unfortunately, pouches detract from that learning more than they contribute to it. 

Eating — whether it’s by hand or getting spoon-fed — entails using fine motor skills, coordination, and specific oral mechanics. It’s a tactile experience that furthers a child’s developmental abilities in multiple areas. If eating is an actual activity, “eating” from a pouch is passive. It is, in a way, a lost developmental learning opportunity. 

When children eat solids — including purees — they’re learning to take bites, to move food around in their mouths, to use their tongues, and to chew. Pouches demand none of this of children. As Kara Larson, a feeding specialist and speech language pathologist at Boston Children’s Hospital said in an interview: “if children are just sucking from a pouch all the time, we worry that some of that tactile experience with food might be lost.”

Eating is also a sensory experience, and this is another area in which pouches come up short. Babies and toddlers learning to eat take ineverything about foods — feeling, seeing, and smelling are a huge part of how they learn about different foods. With pouches, all this sensory intake is essentially lost: children can’t see what color their “food” is, can’t smell it by and large, and don’t feel its textures. 

Not to mention, to a large extent,they also can’t even really taste it. Here’s what I mean… 

The main ingredient in most pouches tends to be a sweet food, usually a fruit. And those sweet foods effectively dominate the entire flavor profile. So even if a pouch does contain spinach or broccoli or the like,children can’t taste it. Like, at all. 

Indeed, partly because of this sweet-taste-masking effect, young children usually can’t differentiate between any of the flavors in any given pouch. I found it helpful to consider what’s going on for me whenever I have a smoothie — I can often pull outsome of the individual flavors, but not all of them. And even the singular tastes I can detect,I can only detect because I already know what they taste like. 

Babyhood and toddlerhood together comprise a critical period of time for learning about foods — and learning to like foods! If toddlers don’t have experience with actual vegetables, they may be less likely to enjoy them down the road. As pediatrician Dr. Natalie Muth told the Times, “kids need the taste of what the actual food is to come to like it later.” IOW, apple-pear-kale pouches aren’t helping children learn to love kale. 

All of this is to say that children don’t learn much about foods (if anything at all) from pouches — they’re not becoming familiar with the foods or even the flavors included — which is a problem because this is a huge piece of how children come to actually like foods.  

1. Pouches aren’t as nutritious as manufacturers would like us to believe. 

There is ahuge problem in the way these pouches are marketed — it’s totally misleading, in my opinion. 

We parents are led to believe that pouches are a great way to “get” our children to eat healthy, and that we can trust a pouch to put plenty of fruits and vegetables into our kids’ systems. Many pouches also contain foods you won’t find in conventional baby food jars, like quinoa or kale or pomegranate or avocado — and the message we are led to believe is that these inclusions make poucheseven more healthy. They contain all these awesome foodie foods! But pouches actually aren’t all that healthy, and as mentioned above, the delivery mechanism — single-texture blends that children “drink” more than they “eat” — isn’t teaching children to come to know and loveactual fruits and vegetables. 

Some pouches contain added sugars (grrr), and even among those that don’t the sugar content is still disproportionate compared to the real foods they started out as. This is true of jarred baby food in general (the high-heat processing that ensures shelf-stability also nukes all the “good stuff,” including vitamins, minerals, fiber, and flavor, while leaving undesirable contents like sugar) — but some research indicates that pouches in particular tend to have higher sugar contents than baby food jars. 

The lack of fiber and texture is also a huge loss — because fiber is super important for digestive health and also contributes to feeling satiated. In fact, some experts worry that because children can suck down pouches so much more quickly than they could eat the same thing (and they aren’t getting any measurable amounts of fiber from them), pouches might actually impact children’s learning about feelings of satiety. 

The convenience factor, too, can be so damntempting. Because they are so easy and children like them so much, many parents (myself included — guilty) use pouches as a sort of management strategy in moments of “crisis,” to put an end to things like public tantrums or epic stretches of whining. Admittedly, this probably sends our kids some mixed messages, namely that emotional or inappropriate behavior can and will be tamed with food (read: sugar). Without being alarmist about it, it’s not unreasonable to think that these aren’t necessarily the healthy, ideal lessons many of us are aiming to teach our kids. 

______

All this said — there is a time and a place for everything, and you don’t need to empty your pantry of pouches for all eternity or swear them off entirely. The problem with pouches, as it were, is only apparent if babies and toddlers are consuming them A LOT. As in, multiple pouches per day. As in, so-many-pouches are displacing other sources ofreal food. 

Here are some helpful thoughts from experts on when and how to incorporate pouches: 

Pouches may be a parent’s best friend in certain situations — and the hands-down “winner” in that category is TRAVEL. Whether you are making a road trip, day trip, plane trip, or whatever, having a pouch on hand for a snack can be life-saving. These kinds of situations are often about getting through them, so do what you need to anddon’t feel guilty about it! 

Experts suggest having some sort of “ground rules,” so to speak, about using pouches — as opposed to using them randomly, on the fly, or as a reactive strategy to calm down your child. Put another way, they recommend making decisions about when and how you plan to use pouches ahead of time, rather than in the moment. 

Look for products with no added sugar, and consider buying smaller sized pouches if they’re available. 

Simply choosing to feed your child the contents of a pouch can change a lot about the situation — it reintroduces the feedingexperience to the equation, is much more interactive, and also takes more time. This isn’t to say that children need pouches — not at all. Pouches were made for and marketed toUS, parents. And there are plenty of reasons to like them. But our children don’t need them, and they’re certainly not benefitting from them. 

As we said, there’s a time and a place for everything — and pouches aren’t “all bad”! When we offer them with intention and in moderation, pouches can be wonderful. But it’s also important to see beyond the deceptive marketing that would have us believe pouches are a boon to any child’s culinary education. Not so — as always, in the end, real food wins…

How Baby Food Pouches are Made (A Behind the Scenes Look) & How We're Different

Most parents can admit to staring and staring at the supermarket shelf, looking the baby food aisle up and down, wondering what is the best possible baby food to give their baby. There are more flavors of baby food pouches available than there are cereals, but there is one thing they all have in common: the way the baby food pouches are made.

But wait, they’re 100% fruit right? They don’t list “sugar” as an ingredient… They are “organic,” brain smart, and filled with fiber. How can these squeeze pouches be badfor your little one?

When we started Amara, we knew that no one was getting more time anytime soon. So we searched high and low for the best way to bring fresh food to supermarket shelves without sacrificing essential nutrients and vitamins.

We stumbled across a technique that was used centuries ago by the Incans to preserve food. The Incans didn’t just store their food where they lived. They would climb up to the highest mountains, at a much higher elevation than where they lived, and store their food there. Why would they store their food so far away from where they cooked?  It turns out the Incans were not just trying to get exercise, they were on to something. The pressure and cold of the high mountains actually preserved the food, all while maintaining the taste, texture and nutrients of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Crazy right? Well, we started researching more to see how we could use this ancient wisdom. That’s when we found the technique we use today. At Amara, we minimally process the fruits, veggies and grains so you can get the closest thing to homemade when you don’t have time to make it yourself. We just take out the water, so you can take homemade with you, anytime, anywhere.

Now that’s what we do. But what do other baby food companies do? Why are those pouches so high in sugars? Why do they have the same texture and consistency, all kind of tasting like apples?

Creating a shelf-stable pouch of baby food

Shelf-stable means that the food can sit on a shelf without refrigeration or spoilage for quite some time. Jarred shelf-stable baby food lasts for about two years. Pouch-stored shelf-stored baby food lasts for one year. This lets supermarkets and baby food companies take their time in selling the product because they don’t have to worry about spoilage.  

Unfortunately, the way they create shelf-stable food isn’t exactly good for its nutritional value. They have to use processes that remove the causes of spoilage (the bad stuff), but these same processes also reduce nutrition (the good stuff).

The extraordinary high levels of heat the traditional jars and pouches are using is the major culprit. Heat breaks down vitamins and destroys enzymes that are needed for proper digestion. Now, after so much heat – you are left with a boiled down mixture that is closer to jam than wholesome fresh food. 

So let’s follow how traditional baby food is made….

First, most shelf-stable baby food companies don’t process raw vegetables and fruits themselves. They buy them from other companies in the form of a puree or a concentrate. These purees and concentrates start by chopping and washing vegetables and grinding them down (which heats up the puree.) Next, stones, skins, and seeds are removed, but along with these, the fiber is also removed. This creates a smooth consistency, but babies need fiber!

So far, it’s like making homemade baby food, only maybe not so much heat because you’re not using industrial equipment (you don’t normally heat your food over 185 degrees F for a long period of time)…. But that’s not it.

Then, the puree is “deareated” to remove oxygen (which causes food to spoil) and then pasteurized. As we all know, pasteurization requires high heat for a long time to kill bacteria. This high heat-processed puree is sent to the baby food companies. If a concentrate is called for, the puree goes through an evaporator to draw out water before shipping. If you’ve ever tasted frozen juice concentrate, you know it’s like swallowing a spoonful of sugar.

Now, enter baby food companies:

Baby food companies buy these pureed (can we still call them fruits and vegetables?) and blend them to create their flavors. They sometimes add water for consistency, and they can also add other things. Acids (e.g. citric acid) is added for further bacterial control as well as to prevent browning of the product over time. Nutrient powders may also be added to make up for the lost nutritional value caused by the earlier processes.

So let’s go over that….

1. Company X grinds fruit or vegetable down to a puree. Heat step to keep it shelf stable and ready to ship to Baby Company.
2. Baby Company blends said purees with their recipes. May add nutrient powders, emulsifiers or acids to keep it looking presentable.
3. Usually another heat step here to make sure nothing is alive (remember, we have to kill the bad stuff….Oops! There goes the good stuff too.)

Ok, so now we have that pureed recipe of baby food company X. What next?

Then the puree has to get packaged. If it’s in a jar, it’s the same process used for home canning, which requires high levels of heat. But did you know that pouches have to be heated as well? This has to be done to kill any bacteria in the pouch, but again, it raises the temperature of the food. These pouches, while convenient, do contain compounds that might leach into the food under high heat such as BPA and aluminum.

So now you have your pureed heated mix according to the recipe for baby food company X. Then it’s put in a pouch. The pouch is heated AGAIN at high levels to make sure that there is no bacteria or mold in the pouch.

…. Pausing. We’re pretty far from those fresh fruits and veggies you pinned right?

Right.

So. Shelf-stability may help consumers know they’re getting unspoiled baby food, but by the end of it, fruits and vegetables have been turned into a kind of jam with no texture and not the best nutrition. (Ever wonder why your baby loves the pouches but doesn’t like the real veggies when you make them?)

Now, I want to pause here. We are all feeling pretty bad about those pouches and jars right? I mean, we didn’t paint the prettiest picture here. Because it’s not. BUT. I do want to stress here, there are moments that your baby is screaming or you’re in the car and the pouch really is the easiest option. And THAT’S OKAY. We don’t walk around in a perfect white onesie all the time, do we? We know there are times for the pouch, but just treat it as an occasional snack or dessert, not an everyday kind of thing.

How Amara differs

We look carefully at every single ingredient and source it the best possible way. That’s right. We don’t just use one co packer that hands us a finished product. We look at every ingredient and find the best process and combination for your little one. We don’t use additives; we don’t use emulsifiers or any of those funny fillers. We just do real food, real ingredients. We bring you the best possible baby food, without you having to chop and cook everything yourself. It's a difference you can see:

Imagine the fruits and veggies just without the water. Now that's a pouch you can actually feel proud of. At Amara, baby food is made better to taste better.

Get 15% off your first purchase with us with code:

Sources: 

https://www. stlouischildrens.org/health-resources/pulse/pros-and-cons-baby-food-pouches
https://www.firstfiveyears.org.au/child-development/the-important-facts-on-baby-food-pouches
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/03/baby-food-pouches-may-pose-risks-for-development-health-when-overused.html
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31340487/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/well/rethinking-baby-food-pouches.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/parenting/baby-food-pouches.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/5-ancient-incan-inventions5.htm
USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors
http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/processing#ixzz1fPecqOzH
http://www.livestrong.com/article/547867-what-does-cooking-do-to-vitamin-c/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/raw-veggies-are-healthier/
http://www.beyondveg.com/tu-j-l/raw-cooked/raw-cooked-2f.shtml
http://feedkids.com/2010/09/freeze-dried-dehydrated-fresh-frozen-or-canned-what-is-the-best-source-of-nutrition/
Gupta et al 2013, Retention of nutrients in green leafy vegetables on dehydration; J Food Sci Technol 50 (5), 918-925.  

How to store milk formula? — Bellakt

Proper storage of milk formula largely determines its quality and, as a result, ensures the baby's nutritional safety. Strictly adhere to the manufacturer's recommendations when storing dry and diluted mixtures.

9006 Baby dry mixes "Bellakt" are produced in cardboard boxes with foil bags. Therefore, closed dry mixes are recommended to be stored in a dry, cool place within the expiration date indicated on the package.

Never use expired meals!

Keep the opened package in a dry, dark, cool place at a temperature not higher than +25ºС and air humidity not higher than 85%. Avoid exposure to direct sunlight.

9006 The best place for storage is a closed kitchen cabinet away from the stove. Do not store the mixture in the refrigerator as the high humidity may cause it to clump. 9

After opening the inner pouch, keep the product tightly closed and out of the reach of children.