Infant and Toddler Feeding from Birth to 23 Months: Making Every Bite Count

The first two years of your child’s life is important for proper growth and development. It is also critical for establishing healthy dietary patterns for later in life. You likely have many questions about this important life stage including: what do you feed a newborn infant?, when are infants ready for solid foods?, which foods should be given and when?, how much food is enough? or when is the right time to introduce potentially allergenic foods, such as peanuts? This resource provides information on infant and toddler feeding from birth through twenty-three months of age, including information on breastfeeding, infant formula, the introduction of solid foods and infant safety while eating. Keep in mind that every infant is different, and their diets may vary depending on many factors such as age, stage of development and nutritional needs. Ask your pediatric nurse practitioner, pediatrician, registered dietitian or other healthcare provider for more specific feeding advice. Newborns For about the first six months of life, infants should be exclusively fed human milk, which is also called breastfeeding1,2. Young infants are not ready for solid foods. They are unable to safely swallow solid foods and their stomachs are not able to digest solids well. When possible, breastfeeding should be continued through at least the first year of life while introducing complementary foods; longer if desired.3,4 Iron-fortified infant formula is an option if a mother has trouble breastfeeding, or if human milk is unavailable or not compatible with the infant’s specific needs. Infant formulas are designed to meet the nutritional needs of infants for the first year of life and are not recommended beyond age 12 months. Human milk can support your infant’s nutrient needs for about the first six months of life, except for vitamin D and potentially iron. It’s generally recommended to […]

insights

How Food Ingredients Get The Green Light  

***Please note: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s GRAS rule is currently being revised and is open for pubic comment. Until these revisions are codified into law, these resources should be considered current and align with FDA regulations. If you’ve ever stood in front of the grocery store shelf wondering how so many different ingredients make it into our food supply, you’re not alone. Every ingredient in the U.S. food supply goes through a regulatory framework designed to evaluate its safety before it reaches your home. One part of this regulatory system is GRAS, short for Generally Recognized as Safe. If you teach, talk or write about food, nutrition, or food safety, knowing how GRAS works is key to understanding how ingredients are evaluated for safety. It can help you clear up myths with science-based information and make sense of the ongoing debates around transparency in our food system.  Let’s dig into what GRAS is, how it came to be, and how experts can bolster trust in the safety of the U.S. food supply.  A Quick Trip Back In Time: From “Anything Goes” To “Prove It’s Safe”  In the early 1900s, adulteration and contamination of food were not uncommon as testing was limited and resources for enforcing food safety were scarce. The situation began to change with the passage of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and, later, the Food Additives Amendment of 1958. The FD&C Act is a cornerstone of U.S. consumer protection law, designed to protect public health and ensure the quality and integrity of many everyday products. The purpose of the Food Additives Amendment of 1958 was to ensure the safety of ingredients and food additives used in foods in the United States.  Before 1958, ingredients were considered safe until proven otherwise. The Food Additives […]

article

Fast Take: The EAT-Lancet Report on Sustainable Diets

Key Highlights Report states that feeding 10 billion people by the year 2050 with a healthy and sustainable diet will be impossible without changing eating habits, improving food production and reducing food waste. There are some similarities between the current US Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the EAT-Lancet Report’s diet recommendations. However, they differ in their recommendation on the consumption of sugars, red meat and dairy notably. While this report calls for further sustainable food production practices, consumers should not overlook the environmentally focused techniques that are currently employed to produce a wide variety of healthy foods across the globe with natural resource conservation in mind. Feeding our ever-growing population will take the diligent work of many farmers and food producers. As we ponder how much food needs to be produced to feed us all, should we also consider the ecological demands that food production takes? Many of us do. This week, a globally represented group of scientists released a report on this topic. The EAT-Lancet Commission released the “Healthy Diets From Sustainable Food Systems” report showcasing new dietary recommendations focused on enhanced plant-based food consumption to increase the health of our populations. The report also issues advice on altering food production practices to be more environmentally sustainable and increase the health of our planet. What is the EAT-Lancet Commission? EAT is a global non-profit that aims to connect science, policy, business and society to achieve their mission of transforming the global food system through sustainable diet and agricultural production practices. Their primary goal is “to achieve planetary health diets for nearly 10 billion people by 2050.” What Nutrition Recommendations Are in The Report? Let’s take a closer look at what the report recommends and how it compares to another well-known set of evidence-based dietary recommendations: The current US Dietary […]

article

Questions & Answers About Food Color Additives

What you should know about approved food additives. Often, the names given to additives and other ingredients in our food can make them seem confusing and off-putting, even to the savviest shopper. But food additives perform specific, positive functions in food, such as enhancing safety and freshness and improving the taste, texture and appearance of products. In the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the safety of food additives and allows only the use of those that are deemed safe. Color additives (also known as food colors) are one category of approved food additives. They not only play a key role in the enjoyment of our food; they also do so without posing a health risk to consumers. Why are food colors used? According to expert Charles Spence, in his article “On the psychological impact of food color,” “color is the single most important sensory cue to expectations about the likely taste and flavor of food and drink.” Food colors often allow us to easily identify our preferred food choices and can enhance food’s overall appeal. They may augment the naturally occurring color of a food and/or provide a consistent color in a food for which the color may vary (due to, for example, exposure to light, air, temperature extremes, moisture, storage conditions, or production elements). What are the categories of food colors? Certified colors are synthetically produced (or human-made) and used widely because they impart an intense, uniform color and blend more easily to create a variety of consistent hues. There are nine certified color additives approved for use in the United States: Color Additive Names That May Be Found on Product Labels What They Do Examples of Uses FD&C Blue Nos. 1 and 2 FD&C Green No. 3 FD&C Red Nos. 3 and 40 […]

article

What You Should Know About Approved Food Additives

Download the Food Additives Fact Sheet here What are food additives? A food additive is an ingredient added to a food to perform a specific function. Additives include substances that are added directly to foods and beverages (known as direct food additives), as well as those that become a part of food in trace amounts due to processing, packaging, shipping or storage (known as indirect food additives). In the U.S., food additives are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are listed in the ingredient list on a product’s label. The Functions of Food Additives Why are food additives used? Food additives provide a specific function in a wide variety of foods—in particular, in maintaining or improving their safety, freshness, taste, texture, appearance or nutritional value. Below are some more specific reasons for why food additives are used: To maintain or improve safety and freshness Food additives known as preservatives slow product spoilage caused by mold, air, bacteria, fungi or yeast. In addition to maintaining the quality of the food, they help control contamination that can cause foodborne illness, including life-threatening botulism. One group of preservatives—antioxidants—prevents fats, oils and the foods containing them from becoming rancid or developing an off flavor. They also prevent cut fresh fruits such as apple slices from turning brown when exposed to air. To improve or maintain nutritional value Vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber are added to many foods to make up for cases in which those nutrients are lacking in a person’s diet or in which they are lost in food processing, or to otherwise enhance the nutritional quality of a food. Such fortification and enrichment have helped prevent and reduce malnutrition in the U.S. and many other countries worldwide. All products containing added nutrients must be appropriately labeled. To improve […]

insights

Safety & Survival: The High Stakes of Food Allergen Labeling Literacy

Food, health, and safety are basic human needs, and food labels play a pivotal role in helping consumers meet them – from navigating chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes to avoiding life-threatening food allergens. Given its widespread applicability, food labeling has long been a hot topic—since the Nutrition Facts Panel (NFP) first appeared on food packages in 1994 up until now, and perhaps, now more than ever. A flurry of new rules has set the stage for helping product labels be more effective in providing consistent information and enabling consumers to make informed and nutritious choices. Some of the first changes to the NFP began with the inclusion of trans fat in 2006, followed by the inclusion of added sugars and a greater emphasis on calories more than a decade later. In recent years, such rules include the FDA addition of sesame as the 9th allergen, final rule on updating the “healthy” nutrient content claim, and a proposed rule on mandatory front-of-pack labeling, as well as the USDA’s potential reform of “date labeling” to provide more clarity and to reduce food waste. Who’s Walking Through The Door? There’s a saying: you can open the door, but you cannot make someone walk through it. Many health conditions faced by Americans can be improved by better and informed food choices. Yet awareness alone is not enough. Action starts with information, but is affected by a complex set of personal, social, and situational factors. That said, interest in new ways of eating is increasingly popular. In the IFIC Food & Health Survey, 54% of respondents said they tried a specific eating pattern in the past year. Only 38% claimed to do this in 2019. Among those who tried a new eating pattern in the last year, more than four in 10 said they were motivated by a desire to […]

insights

“Best By,” Not “Bad After”: Why Food Date Labels Deserve Greater Attention 

IFIC has a long-standing history of conducting consumer research on nutrition and food safety, including Americans’ use of food labels to advance public health and inform regulatory efforts. The IFIC Spotlight Survey, Americans’ Perceptions Of Food Date Labeling, continues that tradition. The survey was conducted in response to a joint Request for Information (RFI) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The agencies seek to understand consumer perceptions of date labeling and its potential impact on food waste.  Food Date Labeling & Food Waste Implications  Food waste is a significant and growing issue in the U.S. At the same time, food prices continue to outpace overall inflation, placing additional strain on Americans—particularly those with limited resources. Currently, 8.4% of U.S. households report low food security and 5.1% report very low food security. That’s nearly 47.4 million people, including over 12 million older adults, without reliable access to food.  In 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that 66 million tons of food were wasted, making it the largest category of material in municipal landfills. Importantly, much of that discarded food was still safe to eat. According to the USDA, misunderstanding food date labels contributes to an estimated 20% of household food waste.  In short, improving consumer understanding of food date labels can:  These outcomes are not just meaningful—they are urgently needed.   Consumers Read Food Date Labels As Safety Versus Quality Indicators  At the heart of this issue is a critical, often overlooked distinction: the difference between food quality and food safety. Understanding that nuance could be the key to reducing waste and maximizing access to safe, nutritious food.  While food is perishable and may lose freshness over time, that does not necessarily mean it’s unsafe to eat.  […]

insights

Consumer Research on Sustainable Eating and Food Waste

Consumers Strongly Believe Both Animal- and Plant-Based Diets Can Be Sustainable; Leftovers, Fresh Produce Are Wasted Far More Often Than Meat, Dairy Products IFIC Foundation Releases Surveys on Environmental Sustainability and Food Waste at “Future of Food Summit” in New York City (New York City)—Environmental sustainability and food waste are top-of-mind for many consumers, but there are sharp differences of beliefs and behaviors between different groups, according to a new pair of surveys by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation. The IFIC Foundation today released two studies—A Survey of Consumers’ Attitudes and Perceptions of Environmentally Sustainable and Healthy Diets and A Survey of Consumer Behaviors & Perceptions of Food Waste—at the Future of Food Summit, co-hosted by Meredith Corp.’s EatingWell in New York City. “Technology, an increasing focus on health and wellness, and consumers’ desires to empower and inform their food decisions are transforming food production and our diets,” said Joseph Clayton, CEO of the IFIC Foundation. “The Future of Food Summit explores how we can address these changes and channel our knowledge in order to improve the food system and food choices. The IFIC Foundation’s new research is meant to supplement those goals and add to our understanding of consumer attitudes and behaviors,” he added. “Findings from these two studies complement the topics and themes covered at the Future of Food Summit,” said Jessie Price, Editor-in-Chief of EatingWell. “IFIC Foundation’s consumer research is a valuable tool to help inform important issues in the food and health space such as sustainability and food waste. And we are thrilled to partner with them for this event,” Price said. The Future of Food Summit brings together thought leaders across academia, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and the media to discuss the future of food and how our food system needs to change for […]

Media