Main Categories of Industrially Prepared Foods

• Ready to eat baby foods
  These consist of prepared recipes that are cooked and sterilized and are normally sold in cans and jars. This broad category includes baby meals, fruit or vegetable based foods, and meat and fish based foods.
• Dried baby foods
  The range of dried foods available is similar to ready-to-eat and they are prepared according to recipes, but they are dried after cooking. Dried foods must be mixed with water or milk before feeding.
• Cereal-based foods
  Cereal foods are usually sold dried and ready for reconstitution. They are based on pre-cooked cereals with additions of meat, vegetables or fruit. Some are reconstituted with milk, but others are already mixed with high protein foods and should be reconstituted with a non-protein containing liquid such as water.
• Pasta
  These foods are available with different pasta shapes and are used after cooking in boiling water or other appropriate liquid. Pasta is often used as a main ingredient in “main meal” products.
• Biscuits and rusks
  Biscuits and rusks can be offered in dried form or can be soaked in water or milk. These products can be particularly useful for teething infants.
• Milk based desserts
  Special deserts with controlled sugar content typically contain yogurt or other milk products as a main ingredient.
• Toddler drink
  Special formulations of cow’s milk or soy extracts have been developed to match the specific nutritional needs of young children over one year of age.
• Other drinks

Industrially prepared complementary foods can be a convenient way to feed infants and are specially formulated as an introduction to the texture of adult foods while meeting the strict dietary requirements of infants and young children. Their manufacturers ensure they are processed according to the strictest hygiene and safety requirements as well as formulated to meet nutritional standards established by health authorities throughout the world.

Whether you are giving your child homemade complementary foods or industrially prepared foods, remember to keep your child’s diet varied and appropriate to his or her stage of development. The inappropriate use of adult foods may result in insufficient intake of some nutrients, such as iron and fat, or an excess of others, such as salt and fiber. Stay with foods meant for infants at first and then gradually introduce “adult foods.”
Fruit, vegetable and herbal drinks also contain controlled amounts of sugar.