Our very young children are precious. The first 1000 days of a child’s life is a crucial period of early life development. The establishment of healthy eating habits early in life provides a path towards the prevention of future diet-related chronic diseases. Introducing complementary food after exclusive breast feeding for six months as recommended by the World Health Organisation is not an easy period for parents. And of course the food industry has attempted to be the saviour by inventing the baby squeeze pouch.
Squeeze pouches
Squeeze or spout pouches are a plastic retort baby food sachet or pouch containing pureed foods marketed as suitable for children aged between six months to five years. The pouches enable children to consume wet ready-to-use food directly from the packet through sucking on the spout. Food pouches for babies and toddlers were first launched in the USA around 2008 and has since taken off worldwide. The increased market share of squeeze pouch baby foods has been driven by changes in the labour market and ‘time-poor’ parents making life a little bit easier for them.
The global pouches market was valued at US$22 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand to around US$40 billion by 2030. Squeeze pouches are now the primary product sold in the Australian baby food market and have contributed to sales worth A$1.2 billion. The food industry calls it mobile food technology for the modern family. They are marketed as ‘convenient’ and ‘easy to feed’ to help parents on the run to select a product that they perceive as the healthiest food for their infant. But are they?
Nutritional composition
Nutritional composition analysis of squeeze pouch infant food undertaken in the US, Germany, Denmark, UK and New Zealand have a striking common finding. All pouch products were considered high in both total and added or free sugars when compared to other infant and toddler foods with most of the total energy provided from free sugars.
There was a predominance of apple, pear and sweet vegetable purees in squeeze pouches, and only small amounts of bitter vegetables and grains.
In the USA, the Baby Food Facts Report found that most infant squeeze pouches do not support recommendations for encouraging healthy eating habits, and the marketing of the pouches is misleading about the true nutritional content.
Similarly, in the UK, a report by First Steps Nutrition found that many product names did not reflect their actual content, with 30% of 188 products analysed failing to mention the main ingredient (e.g. fruit puree) in the product name.
In New Zealand it was found that squeeze pouches contained as little as 0.3 mg/100 g of iron, placing infants at risk of iron deficiency if complementary fed exclusively on commercial squeeze pouches
Recent Australian data
A team of Australian scientists from the Western Sydney University recently confirmed the findings of previous international studies when investigating product content and labelling of 276 ready-to-use infant food pouches available on the Australian market. Only two products were nutritionally adequate according to a nutrient profiling tool. Marketing messages included desirable ingredient emphasis, nutrient absence claims, claims about infant development and health, good parenting, and convenience. Claims of ‘no added sugar’ were made for 59% of pouches, despite the addition of free sugars through the use of fruit juice or syrup.
They concluded that squeeze pouch products available in Australia are nutritionally poor, high in sugars, not fortified with iron, and there is a clear risk of harm to the health of infants and young children if these products are fed regularly. The marketing messages and labelling on squeeze pouches are misleading and do not support official recommendations for the appropriate introduction of complementary foods and the labelling of products. There is an urgent need for improved regulation of product composition, serving sizes and labelling to protect infants and young children aged 0–36 months and better inform parents.
So what to do?
Feeding time can be a difficult mission and certainly requires patience and plenty of cleaning cloths and protecting the carpet is essential. None of these things are needed with pouches making them a great choice if you want to avoid spills and chaos that are often associated with feeding babies in a highchair.
Thus, infant pouches can make up over 70% of the baby food market and they dominate the baby food aisle in supermarkets in many countries. No doubt that’s because they are easy to carry, have a shelf life of at least 12 months and don’t produce a messy feeding situation. They clearly have their place for an occasional meal when out and about or taking to a special event where messy eating isn’t appropriate.
However, numerous studies have shown that the more variety of tastes, textures, colors, and mouth feels a baby is exposed to, the more likely those children are to accept new foods later on in life. 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.
But don’t feel guilty when sneaking in a pouch or two now and then. Caring for an infant is a difficult task and occasionally some relief is necessary. Hopefully, food manufacturers can improve the nutritional composition of the food they put in their pouches to better justify their use.
Focus on food safety 