Infant formula is a sensitive product and always considered as the standard for food safety in China. Therefore, it is under the strictest supervision these years.
Foodmate summarized some common but easily to be confused questions about infant formula milk powder, including the classification, nutrition facts requirement and ingredient requirement according the China’s standards and regulations.
1, How to classify infant formula in China? How does infant formula milk powder divide the stages I, II and III on the market?
The infant formula milk powder in China is divided into infant formula milk powder and older infant and young children formula milk powder according to the standard.
Infant formula milk powder refers to milk products and milk protein products as the main raw materials, adding appropriate amounts of vitamins, minerals and/or other ingredients, and producing only powdered products by physical methods. Suitable for normal infants, their energy and nutrient content can meet the normal nutritional needs of 0 to 6 months of age.
Older infant and young children formula milk powder refers to milk and milk products as the main raw materials, adding appropriate amounts of vitamins, minerals and/or other auxiliary materials, and only using physical methods to produce processed powder products, suitable for older infants and young children, their nutritional content can meet the nutritional needs of normal older infants and young children.
On the market, infant formula stage I is suitable for 0-6 months baby, stage II is suitable for 6-12 months baby, and stage III is suitable for 12-36 months baby.
2.What nutrients must be added to infant formula?
The nutrients that must be added to infant formula include protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.
Protein in infant formula milk powder is mainly derived from milk or goat milk. fat is mainly derived from vegetable oil and milk fat. Carbohydrate is mainly derived from lactose. Vitamins that must be added include vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K1, and vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, niacin, folic acid, pantothenic acid, vitamin C, biotin and other 13 species.
The minerals that must be added in infant formula include 12 kinds of minerals which are sodium, potassium, copper, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, calcium, phosphorus, iodine, chlorine, and selenium. The minerals that the older infants and young children must add include sodium, potassium, copper, magnesium, iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus, iodine, chlorine,which the manganese and selenium are no longer mandatory for young children formula milk powder.
3. What is the role of fat in infant formula? Why do I often see vegetable oils in the ingredient list?
The fat in infant formula milk powder is not only an important source of energy for baby, but also playing the role of delaying the gastrointestinal emptying time of baby, provide essential fatty acids and contribute to the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Cautious consumers will find soybean oil, palm oil, corn oil, and other fat form vegetable oils in the ingredients list of infant formula milk powder. This is because the fatty acid composition of cow's milk is different from that of breast milk. Milk powder is made by adding different kinds of vegetable oils to adjust the composition of fatty acids to be closer to breast milk, ensuring that the content of fatty acids linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid in infant formulas meet the standards, and the final product lipid contains lauric acid and nutmeg. The total amount of acid (tetradecanoic acid) was 20% of the total fatty acids; the linoleic acid content in the older infant and young children formula milk powder met the standard requirements.
4. What are all of the requirement regarding permitted and forbidden ingredient used in infantformula?
