If you still focus on infant formula milk powder, your concept has been outdated! Infant formula milk powder has already been seen everywhere in China, and the competition between enterprises is being in an awful state! However, who is paying attention to the complementary nutrient foods for the weaned young children and older children? Still let children choose those spicy bar foods in the street? The answer must be NO!
 
Beingmate Institute extremely has the sense of responsibility for the nutrition of infants and children. The Herbridge Media has had the honor to invite Qian Feng, engineer of Beingmate Institute Supplementary Food R&D Center, to share the functional supplementary food formula development thinking and the design thinking and idea with practitioners in the 2015 Chinese Innovation and Development Forum of Natural Active Ingredients: Industry-University-Research Docking and Cooperation Conference.
 
How big is the China’s market of supplementary foods for infants and children?
 
From the general meaning, infant foods mainly refer to infant formula milk powder and supplementary foods at the present stage. While the infants aged more than 6 months are continuously breastfed, some foods shall be added to meet the nutrient requirements, including home-prepared foods and factory-produced foods, such as fruit and vegetable juice, rice paste, fruit and vegetable paste and other paste foods or teething biscuits as well as noodles and other solid foods. These foods are collectively referred to as supplementary foods. Supplementary foods are the main nutrient elements required for the growth and development of infants, which adapt to the ability of infants' digestive organs, promote the exercise of infants' masticatory ability and assist the development of infants’ language competence.  
 
There are 27 million babies born in China every year. The fifth round of baby boom is coming in 2016, and the consumption amount for the infants aged 0 to 12 years and pregnant and lying-in women in China in 2010 is RMB 1 trillion with an annual growth rate of 20%. It can be said that the infant and children industry is the green industry and sunrise industry in the 21st century, and China’s infant and children industry ushers in an important development opportunity period. In this industry, infant foods are the key points focused on by the whole industry and whole society. 
 
The development speed of China’s infant food industry ranks the first in Asia with an annual growth rate of 20%. Based on age, the food types for the infants aged 0 to 3 years include formula milk powder, supplementary foods, special medical use infant food and infant nutrition supplements; the food types for the children aged 3 to 12 years include milk products, fruit juice beverage products, bakery products, candies, chocolates, etc. It is worth noting that there is still no standard for children foods at present, the standard for adult foods can be for reference.
 
Three directions of supplementary food development
 
The research and development of supplementary foods need to follow the six principles: safety, nutrition, delicious flavor, health, economy and convenience, which pay attention to the scientific nutrition, improve the supplementary food function, meet the demand of consumers and conform to the legal regulations.  
 
1. Infant formula milk powder and infant nutrient rice flour. They need to be added with DHA, ARA, vitamins, minerals, bifidobacterium, fructo-oligosaccharide, hawthorn, yam, lotus seed, etc. required for infant development. For instance, at present Beingmate milk powder series mainly includes Qili, Baby Nutrition, Love+, etc. according to these requirements.
 
2. Solid beverages. Solid beverages are the supplementary foods accompanying milk powder when babies grow up to a certain stage, which have different functions, such as appetite increase, calcium supplement, energy supply, etc. According to different requirements, different ingredients can be used to make solid beverages but the principles needing to be followed are still health, nature and easy absorption. At present, Oreo cookie sources of solid beverages become richer and richer, including herbal extracts, such as lotus seed extracts. In addition, parents can also make fruit paste with fresh fruit at home.
 
3. Nutritional supplements. Complementary nutrient foods are the supplements with high-density multiple micronutrients (vitamins and minerals, etc.), which need to be added into the supplementary foods of the infants aged 6 to 36 months. After 6 months of breastfeeding, the sufficient significant nutrients cannot be provided only by breastfeeding for promoting the growth of children, and therefore nutritional supplements shall be added into supplementary foods for active nutrition intervention. At present, the common types of supplements include complementary nutrient foods, complementary nutrient tablets and complementary nutrient sprinkles.
 
Innovation is imperative
 
Engineer Qian Feng said, “The future supplementary food developers shall innovate and improve the research and development level. The development of the foods for infants and children cannot be limited to the current level; the level of raw materials and technology shall be improved to meet the market demand and parents’ requirements.”
 
The ingredients of functional foods are the priority among priorities. The food ingredients shall be well known by the public as much as possible and added according to the requirements of the legal regulations; the function propaganda shall not be carried out, and the adding quantity shall also meet the requirements of the standard. At present, functional food ingredients are mainly divided into three types: food nutrition enhancer, medicine and food homology, and new food raw material.
 
For the future foods for infants and children, the raw materials will give priority to organic materials. Engineer Qian has introduced vegetables, fruits and other plant sources, and the diversified ingredients will also be added to make product nutrients richer. For instance, the application of super fruits in products and the concept of super fruits first originate fromthe European and American regions, and super fruits refer to the fruits with specially rich nutrient elements and functional ingredients, such as blueberry, cranberry, pomegranate, sea backthern, lycium barbarum, etc. Super fruits have been used in infant formula rice flour, biscuits for children, fruit juice/paste for infants and other products.
 
Some functional herbal ingredients with medicine and food homology will also be slowly used in the products for infants and children, such as fructus momordicae, liquorice, coix seed, fructus cannabis, etc.
 
In the production technology, the making technology of the foods for infants and children will also develop toward the enzymolysis technology. Compared with the traditional technology, the rice flour produced by the enzymolysis technology has better reconstituability and more delicate taste and is more easily absorbed by infants’ intestines and stomachs. According to the provisions of GB2760, the applicable enzymic preparations include 54 types, including amylase, protease, lipase, phytase, cellulose, etc.       
 
The development space of the foods for infants and children is still very large, but it also faces many challenges. First of all, it shall strictly meet the requirements of the Food Safety Law and also the functional requirements of the market on various food ingredients for infants and children. The product developers will face many difficulties, but the future of the products for infants and children will be brighter as long as they continuously make efforts toward this direction.