Baby Food Aisle
BABY FOOD AISLE and vitamins C and D); including hidden ingredients (HappyFamily's HappyBites, with hidden veggies, protein, fi ber and secret sauces); and addressing specifi c dietary needs like wheat, dairy or soy allergies (Allergaroo's gluten-free, dairy free, soy-free all-natural Chili Mac, Spyglass Noodles and Spaghetti). Our line of frozen hand-held meals contain hidden vegetables in formats and fl avors that kids adore, says HappyFamily founder and CEO Shazi Visram. For instance, mac and cheese is a time-honored classic, but our Mac and Cheese Bites come in a patty format that is fun to hold and dip. Th e fi lling contains an entire serving of vegetables with butternut squash hidden in the mix. Our research showed that moms were looking for foods that would satisfy their toddlers' picky palettes without sacrifi cing balanced nutrition and taste. It can be challenging to get vegetables into babies and toddlers, says Stonyfi eld Farms' Jeff Pillet-Shore, brand manager of YoBaby organic yogurts which recently launched YoBaby Meals, a 3-in-1 combination of yogurt, fruit and veggie purà e. In individual 6 oz. cups, the yogurts contain pear and green bean, peach and squash, and apple and sweet potato blends. We saw intuitively and through research that those veggies were good to use. But they're not hidden, he emphasizes. Th ey're just mixed in. Th ere's no deception involved in it; it's just good, very basic and honest. All but one of YoBaby's yogurt off erings which include convenient options such as YoBaby Drinkables and YoBaby Squeezables are fortifi ed with zinc and vitamin E, in response to recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Dr. Sears. Th ere's also a lot of vitamin A in YoBaby Meals that's naturally in the product. Adding natural fruit and vegetables to yogurt, you'd be pushed to fi nd anything that provides more nutrition than that. It really delivers the basic things a parent is looking for. Toddlers are the hardest audience to please, says Kerry Williams, VP of Pitter Patties, which makes all-natural ready-to-heat entrà es packed with veggies, whole grains and natural proteins. Everyone knows how diffi cult it is to give healthy choices to children; then you have to factor in that toddlers change their minds all the time! Pitter Patties hit on a winner by making their product muffi n-shaped hard to resist for any toddler as well as addressing a variety of special dietary needs, such as dairy-free, vegan and gluten-free. Our product is very dense with nutrients. Everything is antibiotic- and hormone-free, no added salt or sugar, extra virgin olive oil not canola oil, and we don't add soy, says Williams. I have two toddlers. Whenever they eat the Spinach Patch, which is dense with calcium and iron, as a parent I feel so happy that they got their greens for the day. Convenience is another key growth driver in this sector. Parents on the go are looking for simple-to-prepare dishes and ready-to-eat snacks for their toddlers and preschoolers, to maximize the time spent on activities and minimize kitchen chores. Products such as Pitter Patties, HappyBites Breakfast Pockets, Plum Kids and Allergaroo's microwave meals, and Revolution Foods' Lunchbox Simplicity (a line of organic fruit and whole-grain snacks and sandwich fi llers designed for a complete toddler lunchbox) precisely address those needs. Convenience plays a major role in the decisions parents make when it come to buying store-bought prepared foods, but for our market that it is tempered with the desire for high-quality food, says HappyFamily's Visram. For instance, our meals are prepared as home-style foods, so parents know they are purchasing something close to homemade. Th e real value is an enlightened formulation that is premade for them that they can feel good about feeding their children. Part of our brand promise is to off er meals that add that additional value of saving time while providing a unique nutritious product. It's not just the natural-food neophytes that are benefi ting from parents' increasing interest in healthy toddler foods; even a company as established as Traditional Medicinals, which has specialized in organic herbal teas for the best part of four decades, has seen a rise in demand for its Just For Kids toddler teas. Everyone's concerned about exposure to toxins such as pesticide residues, says Traditional Medicinals' VP of Research & Development, Josef Brinckmann. Organic provides protection against toxins; and under Fruit purees in pouches, juices fortifi ed with vitamins and fanciful packaging appeal to health-conscious parents with toddlers. Freezers are beginning to appear in baby food aisles 14 Natural Food Network