The World Health Organization (WHO) says it clearly: breast milk is the best food for babies. But not every woman can and wants to breastfeed her child. Infant formula has been a proven alternative for many parents for decades. Feeding an infant with a bottle requires some preparation: sterilizing the bottle. Boiling the water and leaving it to cool. Removing the milk powder from the large packet, measuring it out and stirring it in. Allowing the milk to cool to drinking temperature. If you are on the go, you don’t want to take the large pack with you, so you have already taken out a few spoonfuls of powder and stored them in a container. But there is another way: with liquid milk that is already prepared and filled in individual portions in a plastic bottle. Although this is still a niche market, ready-to-drink baby food has now established itself. The small bottles with disposable packaging can now be found in almost every drugstore and grocery store.
The major manufacturers entered the market years ago and have gradually expanded their range. “The category is interesting for us because it makes an essential contribution to the healthy nutrition of babies and toddlers if breastfeeding is not possible,” David Klöckner-Molitor, Head of Nestlé Nutrition in Germany, told Lebensmittelzeitung. Nestlé has been offering ready-to-drink formula for babies up to the age of six months and follow-on milk under the Beba brand for some time.
