Food Marketing & Technology - India May 2019 | Page 26
Ingredient
products available include: baby
rice cereal; breakfast recipe; and
savoury recipes. Breakfast recipes are
composed mainly of fruits and cereals.
Savoury varieties are composite
dishes containing ingredients such as:
meats; fish; vegetables; and cereals.
Dessert varieties consist of fruits, dairy
products and cereals. Available drinks
include: pure fruits juices with added
vitamin C; and purified water with a
hint of fruit flavour.
Demand is Driving
Innovation in Weaning Foods
a chance they may be allergic to certain
foods. That’s why it’s important to
introduce cow’s milk, eggs, wheat,
gluten, nuts, peanuts, peanut products,
seeds, fish, and shellfish one at a time
and not before six months. There is
no evidence that waiting until your
child is older will prevent them from
developing a food allergy. Salt (>1g),
sugar (including honey), whole nuts
and shellfish should be avoided during
complementary feeding to reduce the
risks of toxins, food poisoning and
tooth decay. The drinks which are not
suitable for children under one year
of age include: cow’s milk; sheep’s
milk; rice milk; tea or coffee, even
decaffeinated varieties; fruit juice
drinks or fizzy drinks; sports or energy
drinks; or dilutable squashes.
Current Trends in
Weaning Foods
Both home-made and processed baby
foods are suitable as complementary
foods. Using home-made foods can
introduce more varied tastes and
textures and seems to provide an
easier transition to family foods.
Homemade foods can be cheaper and
the parent knows what ingredients
are used in the food, but parents and
caregivers should be cautioned to
avoid adding salt and sugar and using
Processed baby foods
are convenient, easy
to prepare, and they
have to adhere to
strict compositional
regulations like
nutritional content
adult convenience foods such as: gravy
mixes; instant potato; soups; sauces;
and ready meals because of their high
salt content.
Processed baby foods are convenient,
easy to prepare, and they have to adhere
to strict compositional regulations like
nutritional content, etc. However, there
are chances that an infant fed a diet of
commercial foods may be reluctant to
change later to home-prepared foods.
Today, about 87 percent of global baby
food and 66 percent of baby formula
value sales come from North America
and Europe, but developing markets
are still driving growth. The sales have
grown over 4 percent in Africa/Middle
East, 3.4 percent in Asia-Pacific and 2.6
percent in Latin America.
Weaning foods are available in
cans and jars either as homogenous
purées for young infants (4-6 months
of age), or preparation with larger
particle size for older infants (from
about 7 months of age). Types of
Food Marketing & Technology
26
May 2019
The drivers for innovations in weaning
foods include: the changing lifestyles;
and urbanisation. Growth in the market
is also driven by a rising number
of women working outside their
homes. Also, the current consumer is
highly aware of the requirements of
their babies at every stage of growth.
Thus, companies are now focussing
on the incorporation of human milk
oligosaccharides and probiotics in
the weaning foods. Human milk
oligosaccharides mimic the human
milk and probiotics help to maintain
the intestinal microbiota of the infant
and thus keep the gut healthy. Within
the EU, there is legislation governing
the composition and labelling of baby
foods. Some companies have their
own additional nutritional guidelines
for weaning foods to ensure that these
foods help mothers to provide a varied
and nutritionally balanced diet for
their babies. Manufacturers need to
highlight the safety records on their
packages and educate their consumers
about the benefits of going organic.
Consumers need to believe that the
processed weaning food companies
also value their child’s health above
everything!
* PhD. Scholar, Food Technology, Punjab
Agricultural University, Ludhiana;
MSc. Food Technology, CSIR-Central Food
Technological Research Institute, Mysore;
B.Tech. Dairy Technology, National Dairy
Research Institute, Karnal
Email id: [email protected]