What’s up with Gerber Baby Food?
It’s getting to that time when my son Drew will be eating solid foods like veggie and fruit purees, so I thought it would be best to start looking at some baby food labels at my local grocery store.
I picked up a jar of Gerber Pureed Peas and to my surprise there were only 2 ingredients listed: Peas and water. Wait a second. How can that be when these jars are sitting here for weeks at a time? Is it true that only peas and water are in these jars? What about the preservatives used to keep them from spoiling? I had to dig deeper.
Gerber claims to have no added refined sugar, salt or starch which is great. They also have an organic line of food that they say follows all the guidelines of the USDA national organic program. So why doesn’t it spoil?
A Sterilization and vacuum packing technique is used to preserve the food in the jar. The vacuum environment removes all of the oxygen thus killing the bacteria that would otherwise spoil the food.
Ok, I’ll buy that but surely nutrients in food break down over time so instead of taking my chances by regularly feeding my baby food from a jar, I might only use them in emergencies. Otherwise I’m heading out to get the Beaba Baby Cook to make fresh organic baby food for Drew.
August 19th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Omg, this is an interesting article! I was wondering the very same thing. How can there only be two ingredients and it stays fresh? But I suppose the vacuum packed thing is true. It had better be! =O
August 19th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I know, right! I still think it’s BS. Even if they do only have two ingredients now, I know it wasn’t always that way. They must have changed their practices because people are getting smarter about what they feed their children.
August 19th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
mmmmm…….that looks tasty
Drew’s a lucky boy!
August 20th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
He has a personal chef. lol
August 24th, 2009 at 2:26 am
Most of the nutritional breakdown is caused by oxidation. Remove the oxygen and you remove the oxidation.
August 24th, 2009 at 9:13 am
That gives me more confidence. I just want the BEST for my child like most moms do. Thanks so much Mike!
August 24th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
I understand.
Also, it goes against what we’re used to hearing, but recent studies have shown that because fruits and vegetables we purchase in grocery stores are usually shipped in from all over the world (and have been for decades), frozen fruits and vegetables are usually the freshest (in most cases these are frozen locally within hours of being picked), followed by canned and bottled (again, these are canned and bottled locally), *then* fruits and vegetables purchased from your local grocery store. If you want fresher, you’ll have to buy from a local farmers market or grow the food yourself.