The adoption has been relabeled to ‘The Standard for Follow-up Formula for Older Infants and Product for Young Children’, was confirmed on 28th November, following Codex Alimentarius Commission meetings held in Rome at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters today.
The modification is designed to ensure that follow-up formula provided for older infants aged 6-13 months will support growth and development, while products for children aged 12-26 months meets their needs. This has included the reduction of energy requirements to 60-70 kcal/100ml and protein requirements to a minimum of 1.8 g/100kcal for young children, while adjusting lipid levels and establishing optimal limits for available carbohydrates.
Additional reviews and controls over included ingredients have been confirmed, such as the restriction of the use of the food additive trisodium citrate in sterilised and UHT milk following years of varying opinions over the technological justification for its addition.
In addition, new labeling requirements were determined related to text, images, and colors used, taking into account the recommendations of the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and the WHO guidance on Ending the Inappropriate Promotion of Foods for Infants and Young Children. The requirements are designed to ensure consumers are clearly able to differentiate infant formula, follow-up formula for older infants, product for children, and formula for special medical purposes intended for infants.
The adoption of the text concludes over 10 years of discussion within the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Food for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU).
Specialized Nutrition Europe (SNE) expressed their support for the updated guidelines, emphasizing the need for clear and strict regulation for follow-up products to ensure healthy growth and development in early childhood.
SNE president, Marie-France Pagerey, comments: “The strict international standard is great news. We encourage its timely adoption by the EU to ensure the highest standards apply when it comes to protecting vulnerable groups. Older infants and children are vulnerable groups with different nutritional requirements compared to young infants, and very different requirements from those of older children and adults. The composition of formulas for this group also needs to be specifically adapted for their age and needs to follow specific standards.
“We congratulate Codex Alimentarius and all its member states on their agreement to the updated standard, which is the result of many years of work and expert input,” she added.
While the renewed standards are welcomed as a significant improvement to the original 1987 infant nutrition policy, a publication released by infant milk action group IBFAN UK asserts there are remaining risks.
“The products will all be ultra-processed, and many will be sweet tasting, flavored, and genetically modified. Not surprisingly, the change has taken over 10 years of tortured discussions in a Nutrition Committee (CCNFSDU) dominated by food corporations and powerful exporting countries,” the publication stated.
It disagrees with the guidelines continuing to allow the ’misleading’ claim ”with added nutrients”,
