Organic Baby Food - A Safer Cleaner Way
You are not alone if your child has recently begun eating solids and you spend most of your day trying to figure out what to feed him or her. As a parent, it is common to have your head clouded with questions like where the food comes from. How it is made? Do they use the best ingredients? Are the ingredients used, safe for my baby? The remedy, according to many nutritionists would be to choose “organic baby food.”
What is Considered Organic Baby Food?
Organic baby food is organic food where the product has not been grown or processed with antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides, or other potentially dangerous substances, It has not come in contact with any artificial material. There has been no intervention of insecticides or pesticides in the natural plant growth lifecycle. A majority of packaged, pureed food is grown in such a way that to have an increased yield farmers are like to be injected with insecticides or pesticides. These are in non-organic food and may harm the toddler’s health as they may not have developed immunity as of yet.
Importance of organic baby food
Theoretically, organic baby food may help protect a child from early exposure to preservatives and pesticides. Even though, research is still needed to conclude if organic foods are better than non-organic foods. Several medical professionals think limiting an infant’s early exposure to pesticides and other food toxins may aid in developing a more resilient immune system. But there is also a fine line to the limit of processed chemicals the infant’s body may be able to handle. And this limit is also different for different children. The child may become more susceptible to health problems, increasing their chances of harming their neurodevelopment.
Thus, it may be a better and safer choice for parents to choose organic food if their child is under one year old. Organic baby food is also a safer option if your infant has any special dietary restrictions, or may have any chronic conditions. Organic baby foods also ensure that the baby gets the best of ingredients and in the most naked form possible.
Certified Organic Label
In today’s mass-manufacturing, fast-paced world where the product variety is never-ending. And manufacturers trying to find new ways to fool customers into buying their products, even going to the extent where the products are falsely labeled. How do customers know what product to choose to fit their requirements?
United States Department of Agriculture advises consumers to only choose products with the “certified organic label” because products with labels claiming to be “natural” or “free range” may not necessarily be made from organic Products. To identify between organic and non-organic food products, the Food Regulation Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has to implement severe standards and rules that are to be followed by any brand providing organic baby food. “Organic food products are either those developed under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides or created from organically produced raw materials,” the FSSAI stated in a press statement issued on June 22, 2017. The draught law requires that the labeling of organic goods transmit complete and correct information about the product’s organic designation.
Can you make your organic baby food?
Making your organic baby food at home may be the best, safest, and healthiest choice for you and your family, given the current status of both conventional and organic baby foods. Fortunately, making organic baby food at home is simple, as long as you use organic ingredients.
Organic baby food has the foundation of anything that is pureed or mashed. Any organic fruit or vegetable can be used as the foundation for making organic baby food. You can toss in a grain like lentils if you provide your baby with more nourishment. There is no set-in-stone rule when you are making your organic baby food. It all depends on the ingredients you are using and the taste profile you are going for.
- Start your recipe for organic baby food, by using organically harvested fruits and vegetables.
- The skins of the fruits and vegetables should be scrubbed thoroughly and peeled.
- If you cannot peel them, it is advised to soak them in baking soda for at least 10 mins and then wash them thoroughly again.
- Remove any seeds or stems if there are any.
- Boil or steam your product until they are tender and let it cool.
- Mash the fruits or vegetables or any other products with a fork, until it has the consistency and texture of food that a baby could consume.
- Serve the homemade organic baby food right away, or freeze it if you’re saving it. Organic baby food that can be frozen for up to two months.
Does organic baby food contain metals?
In the United States, 95 percent of tested baby foods were found to have some level of hazardous metals, including arsenic, according to research released in late 2019. These pollutants can affect a child’s growing brain and lower their IQ. With each meal or snack an infant may consume only inestimably small amounts of these pollutants, but in the long run, they may have adverse effects.
The foods made with rice were by far most likely to contain high levels of heavy metals of all the baby foods. Fruit juices and sweet potato products also had significant concentrations of trace heavy metals.
Not just arsenic, but other dangerous metals, have made it into the food we provide to our kids. According to the same 2019 report, 95 out of 168 baby meals are produced by significant US manufacturers. Concerns about lead in baby food also exist. It seems that 1 in 5 infant foods tested had lead levels that were 10 times the 1-ppb acceptable limit.
Variety of organic baby food
Once Upon a Farm Sampler
Jennifer Garner is the co-founder of this brand. This brand of cups and pouches is ideal for babies older than 6 months. Every ingredient used in their pouches is responsibly and organically cultivated by the USDA. Because the blends use a cold-pressed method, the nutrients, flavor, and texture of the ingredients are preserved.
You may find these organic, cold-pressed baby food cups and pouches in the refrigerator department of your local supermarket. For your hectic schedule, the organization also offers a subscription delivery option for baby food.
The Clean Label Project Purity Award, given by a third-party NGO that tests for over 400 industrial and environmental contaminants, including heavy metals, is the first award given to a baby and children’s food company.
Cerebelly Organic Baby Puree Pouches
This organic baby food line from Cerebelly, which includes pouches and snack bars, was founded by a practicing neurosurgeon and focuses on infusing 16 brain-supporting elements into every product. The organic goods are veggie-forward and have no added sugar. The “thoughtful and healthy mixes” were well-liked by babies and the parent testers. Also, they have a line of flavorful bone broth purees for kids older than 11 months that provide 5 grams of protein per bag.
The Clean Label Project Purity Award has been given to Cerebelly pouches, certifying that they have undergone testing for over 400 pollutants, including heavy metals, chemicals, plastics, pesticides, and more.
Happy Family Organics Pouches & Jars
Happy Family Organics was developed by Shazi Visram, to give parents access to a wide range of nutritious organic baby food options. The company offers robust meal pouches for Stage 2 and 100% USDA organic pouches and jars including organic and regenerative range. Other Happy Family Organics include teethers, puffs, crackers, veggie straws, meal bowls, and made-simple mixes.
Happy Family revealed to Good Housekeeping that, in the absence of science-based federal standards for all items, they established internal objectives to take into account the FDA guidelines that do already exist. They also employ the best methods recommended by specialists in the field and demand their suppliers to locate farms all over the country and the globe with the least amount of these naturally occurring substances in the soil.
Plum Organics Pouches
Plum Organics is known for selling organic teethers, puffs, and pouches. They have products that cater to each stage of baby foods including stage 3 baby food pouches that help a baby’s palette prepare for table food. Plum also supports underprivileged kids by providing Super Smoothie pouches to children from low-income families. Also, their website features a page with numerous recipes that adults can utilize to prepare food. Plum organics formula or mixture is such that it helps with easy digestion for infants as well as helps them have regular bowel movements.
Serenity Kids Organics
Ethically Sourced Meats and Organic Savory Vegetables are just two of the distinctive lines offered by this cutting-edge baby food company. The pouches offered by serenity kids are BPA-free and shelf-stable, and their ingredients are also top quality. It is a wonderful opportunity to introduce your child to flavorful savory mixtures and protein-rich foods like salmon, bison, turkey, and more. As your child grows, their grain-free puffs produced with cassava flour are ideal and were a winner in our Parenting Awards. They also sell bone broth-based toddler pouches.
Since 2018, Serenity Kids blends have undergone testing by an independent authority. The company claims that all of its goods are well within the FDA’s suggested upper limits, and it also elected to hold its food to higher European Union standards. They are committed to complete openness regarding their sourcing and only buy items from reputable American family farms that test their own soil.
