Complementary foods for infants and young children
Promoting growth and development in the early years
From the age of four to six months, up to the age of three years, infants continue to undergo rapid growth. Adequate nutrition at this point is crucial in determining a child’s healthy development. Complementary foods help in the move from a liquid-based diet (breast milk, or infant formula) to one covering solid foods in a wide range of tastes and textures.
Complementary foods cover several categories of foods, each formulated specifically to limit the amount of salt, saturated fats and sugar, and ensure the correct amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins and minerals. Unique and strict food safety requirements ensure the lowest possible exposure to chemical contaminants. Fortified and nutritionally-balanced manufactured complementary foods make a healthy contribution to infants’ diets, which can sometimes contain insufficient nutritious elements. Around 90% of infants in the EU receive complementary foods, particularly between the ages of six and twelve months. This amounts to around 4.5 million children.
Complementary foods for infants and young children
- Ready-to-eat baby foods
- Cereal-based and dried foods
- Pasta
- Milk-based desserts
- Biscuits and rusks
- Toddler's milk
Why do children need special nutrition?
The fast development of infants and young children means they need nutrition adapted to their particular requirements:
- Infants eat, proportional to their weight, about three times as much as an adult
- By the age of five months, an infant is twice its birth weight
- By the age of one year, an infant is three times its birth weight
- By the age of one year, an infant has grown by 25cm
A responsible industry, supporting children and parents
Our priority: providing safe, healthy nutrition to infants and young children
IDACE members are national associations. Among their members are companies that make a range of complementary foods for infants and young children. The priority of these companies is to provide parents and care givers with a range of safe, healthy, nutritious foods to supplement breast milk or infant formula after the first four to six months of life, according to guidance from European healthcare professionals.
Complementary foods are subject to stringent safety and quality standards at all stages of production, and specific rules on the sourcing and traceability of raw materials.
Supporting parents, carers and children
Besides physical growth and development, the weaning stage also represents a rapid process of behavioural maturation.
This includes budding food behaviours - with children starting to discover new tastes and textures, demanding to feed themselves, refusing to eat, and exhibiting strong ‘ likes’ and ‘dislikes’. These elements may limit nutrient intake. Complementary foods help in this process by introducing children to a wider range of nutritious meals and to small ‘finger foods’ so that they can control their own feeding.
Growing up milk (toddler’s milk), for children over 12 months, also helps to providing key nutrients (such as iron and vitamin C) that may be limited in the diets of children of this age.
- Stringent safety standards: laws demand use of specially-controlled agricultural resources
- Low salt and sugar: responding to a child’s body’s limited ability to process these ingredients
- No additives: preservatives, colourings and intense sweeteners are not permitted in baby foods
Regulating complementary foods for infants and young children
Specialised nutrition needs specialised regulation.
In the EU, complementary foods for infants and young children are addressed by a specific Directive under the umbrella of the PARNUTS Framework Directive. This specific Directive (2006/125/EC) sets out rules on the composition, quality and labelling of complementary foods.
FACTS & FIGURES
 |
About 5% of turnover is invested in research:the food industry average is 1% |
 |
The annual turnover of the European dietetic foods sector (including exports) is around €24bn |
 |
The dietetic foods sector is a world leader:each year, exports total around €8bn |
IDACE MEMBERS
