Baby foods: Formulations and interactions - (A review)

Infant foods have a special place among food products mainly because of nutritional aspects and preparations methods. A great increase of baby foods incomes is predicted in near future. Formulation, handling, and storage of baby foods are important to keep nutritional quality and physicochemical properties of these foods. During storage some reactions and interactions occur which change physicochemical and nutritional properties of baby foods. Lactose crystallization, Maillard reaction, oxidation, and interactions between micronutrients and other components are the most important aspect of preparation and storage of baby foods. These reactions and interactions influence physical properties such as flowability of powder, solubility, and other functional properties. Controlling of storage conditions such as temperature and moisture content and oxygen quantity in headspace of product is required to keep product quality. In this paper the composition and interactions of baby foods between major components and their effect on nutritional quality of baby foods are explained.