Undoubtedly, babies & infants are far too vulnerable to diseases, illnesses, toxins, & infections than adults. Therefore, it is crucial for the parents to ensure that these little ones get all the nutrition & mineral values in their food and have a strong immune system to resist & fight infections. Today, while the world is growing at an accelerated pace, with parents rushing back & forth in their busy schedules, the availability of baby food is playing a prominent role in providing suitable nutrition to babies.
Baby Food is packaged food made especially with nutrition-rich content to deliver appropriate nutrients to the little ones. This food can range across any soft & easy to consume food other than breastmilk, made particularly for babies between four & six months up till two years old. Moreover, since babies are delicate and need utmost care, the food regulation association throughout the globe lays out stringent screening levels to ensure the baby food reaches high-quality standards & packed safely with all the nutrients.
Under these standards, the baby food manufacturers are compelled to strictly abide by the regulations & ensure that the baby food products have all types of bioavailable nutritional mix without harmful substances inside. Besides, protein, Carbohydrates, Fats, Vitamins, & Minerals are other prominent micro & macronutrients required in baby food. These content are viewed as possible sources of nutrition & are added in the baby food as per the guided amounts with minimum & maximum limits.
Prominent Reasons behind the Mounting Prevalence of Baby Food
While baby food is widely produced & delivered in the market, it is intriguing to know the factors that infuse their demand worldwide. To find out more, let's read the following pointers and understand the key aspects behind the mounting prevalence of baby food.
-Working Female Population: With a growing working population across different corners of the world, it might become difficult to deliver the most suitable amount of nutrition to the little ones in the busy lifestyle. Hence, the demand for baby food is escalating dramatically, where the working population is viewed as the largest buyer of baby food. Additionally, with the growing awareness about the benefits like a high content of fruits & vegetables, low sodium & fat, easy to prepare, etc., of baby food, these working females are inclining more toward adopting baby food.
-Increasing Awareness & Easy Availability: With the exponentially rising population entwined with the growing awareness about the presence & benefits of baby food, the demand for these products is growing substantially across the world. In fact, females from both urban & rural areas are increasingly adopting baby food to feed the little ones’ ad deliver the right nutrition for their immunity. As a result, the need for constant availability of baby food across different sales channels like online platforms, retail stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, among others, is augmenting the need to increase production.
-Extensive Variety of Baby Food: While the manufacturers are increasing their production of baby food, the advent of new flavors with different nutritional values to suffice children with varied requirements is further fueling the availability of baby food across the distribution channels. Additionally, strategies like bulk volume & effective merchandising are the other aspects that are promoting the sales of baby food.
-Growing Need to Address Health Issues Like Malnutrition: According to the United Nations International Children’s Security Fund (UNICEF), almost half the number of deaths in children below the age of 5 years is due to an alarming level of Malnutrition. Therefore, this adds up to another prominent aspect encouraging the people to provide nutrition-rich baby food to their children to strengthen their immune system enough to fight such health disorders. In fact, in the same line, several baby food manufacturers are producing nutrient-rich baby food, especially to suffice the requirements of children suffering from malnutrition.
-Escalating Shift Toward Organic & Plant-based baby Food: With a growing inclination toward adding ingredients like probiotics & human milk oligosaccharides in baby food, a major consumer base is displaying a shift toward organic & plant-based baby food, especially across the developing region of the world. As a result, the demand for baby food is rising with a new variety in the market.
-Importance of Vitamin D: Since baby food must meet are the nutritional values, it is now coming with the benefits of Vitamin D as well, to suffice the requirement in formula food. It is primarily to balance the microbial population in the baby's guts. Moreover, the Covid-19 outbreak further raised concerns among parents about the baby's health, propelling the demand for baby food with the benefits of nutrients & vitamins.
All these factors cited above indicate that the demand for baby food is swiftly escalating worldwide. As a result, the Global Baby Food Market size was valued at USD 69.76 Billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 1.2% during the forecast period 2023-30.
Growing Inclination Toward Organic Food for Babies
With the increasing concerns associated with the health of babies & infants, most parents are showing keen interest in feeding these little ones with organic food that is free of any artificial flavor or additives. Additionally, the growing awareness about the benefits of organic food, such as reduced exposure to harmful chemicals, no artificial colors, being environmentally friendly, healthy, etc., is attracting several parents to choose organic baby food over conventional ones. Besides, organic food is free from preservatives and has a considerable amount of vital nutrients that play a prominent role in providing better nourishment to babies.
Takeaway
All the factors cited above clearly hint toward the different aspects behind the booming adoption of baby food and how it benefits the health of these little ones to resist toxins, infections, disease, and fight vulnerabilities. Additionally, with an exponentially growing population & awareness among people about various perks of feeding baby food to infants, it would create lucrative growth opportunities for the Global Baby Food Market in the coming years.