Stiftung Warentest check the EasyToBeMom blog and tested baby food in the form of 19 ready-made baby porridges for the evening and only three were rated “Good”. Four baby porridge achieved only one “sufficient” result.
With the question “Does the porridge do the baby good?” in its head, Stiftung Warentest analysed evening porridge from various brands to mix with and out of the glass and came to a mixed conclusion that some parents (but hopefully not the children) might have stomach pains.
Stiftung Warentest tested baby food as follows
The experts from Stiftung Warentest tested 19 milk and cereal porridge products, 12 of which were powders to be mixed with hot water (including 8 organic products) and 7 ready-made porridge products in jars (including 6 organic products) under the following aspects: nutritional quality (50%), influence on flavour (5%), critical substances (20%), microbiological quality (5%), packaging (5%) and declaration (15%). The products were all purchased in March 2019 in regular stores. The prices were determined in July 2019 by a supplier survey.
The test results at a glance
For parents, the result of the baby food test should be rather sobering: far too many baby paps contained undesirable substances in baby food such as sugar and fruit powder or even arsenic, chlorate, isododecane and 3-MCPD ester. All things that we parents would rather not feed our child.
But of course there is also baby food that you can feed your baby with a clear conscience: the three test winners are all from the organic range and are led by the evening porridge Hipp organic milk porridge Gute Nacht Kinderkeks*, which won the overall victory.
The test winners: Hipp baby food with organic seal convinces in Stiftung Warentest
The three test winners in Stiftung Warentest 2019 are all three organic baby foods. Two of the baby porridges are for mixing and one is from the glass. With the grade “Good” (1.9), the evening porridge Hipp Bio-Milchbrei Gute Nacht Kinderkeks won the overall victory*, followed by the porridge Babylove Bio Milchbreiß from dm with the grade “Good” (2.1). Third place, also with “Good” (but only 2.4) went to the Alnatura evening porridge semolina pure.
1st place: Hipp organic milk porridge Good night children’s biscuit
The baby food to mix with Hipp sounds unhealthy with the word “Kinderkeks” in the name, but with a rating of “good” (1,9) it has become the overall winner in the Stiftung Warentest baby porridge for the evening.
The baby porridge convinced with a very low sugar content. The influence on the taste impression of the child is small, since the baby porridge has only a very light vanilla note. The Hipp organic milk porridge also scored “good” and “very good” in the tests on critical substances and microbiological quality. Only in terms of packaging and declaration was the baby food tested as “satisfactory”. The milk porridge contains wheat and maize.
Price: The Hipp organic milk porridge Gute Nacht Kinderkeks costs approx. 0.79 € per 100g and is recommended from the 6th month according to the declaration. Available in a stock pack (4x 450g) for 15 € at Amazon*.
2nd place: dm Baby-love organic milk porridge semolina
The second place baby porridge for the evening of dm Baby-love is also organic, nourishes your child with semolina and is also to touch. With a rating of “good” (2.1) he is just behind Hipp’s porridge.
The test showed that dm’s baby food also has a very low sugar content, which is very positive. However, a low iron content was also measured, which is rather unfavourable. Like the test winner, the baby porridge also has a slight vanilla note and thus has no influence on the developing childish taste. The declaration was better than with Hipp and also the packaging was rated a little better.
Price: The dm Baby-love organic milk porridge semolina costs 0.48 € per 100 grams and can be given according to packaging from the 6th month. Available in the 600g advantage pack for 2.85 € in the online shop or shop of dm.
3rd place: Alnatura evening porridge semolina pure BIO
In third place in the test was baby food in a jar: the pure Alnatura evening porridge also scored “good” (2.4).
The baby porridge for the evening is saturated with wheat (semolina) and also contains little sugar. Like the porridge from dm, it also contains very little iron, which was evaluated negatively.
The name PUR is the program here and so the baby porridge gets along completely without aroma-giving ingredients. This baby food achieves a “very good” (1.0) in the test when evaluating the influence on the flavour.
Also with all other test characteristics the evening porridge of Alnatura always comes on a “good” or even “very good”. The only reason why baby food does not reach the top of the podium at Stiftung Warentest is because the nutritional quality is only “satisfactory” due to the very low iron content.
Price: The Alnatura evening porridge pure semolina costs 0.52 € per 100 grams and can be given according to packaging from the 6th month. Available in a 6-glass advantage pack for €5.94 in the online shop or retail shop of alnatura.
Beiko stripe mark: When your baby is ready for baby food
The losers: Most baby food in the test contained too much sugar, fruit powder and some even harmful substances.
With only “sufficient” four baby porridges were evaluated, but only two of them with one four before the comma. The penultimate place went to Bebivita’s evening porridge biscuit, which contained the most sugar of all the porridge porridge tested, in combination with a high proportion of saturated fatty acids, very little iron and little iodine.
On the very last place with a rating of 4.5, just enough, the Babydream Guten Abend Milchbrei landed oat apples from Rossmann. The baby porridge contains a medium sugar content, above all fructose, and also did the worst of the critical substances it contained.
Some products contained pollutants that were only slightly below the limits. Significant amounts of arsenic were found especially in the rice powdered paps. Arsenic is considered carcinogenic and has no place in our food – and certainly not in baby food. In addition to arsenic, the following pollutants have also been found in various products: 3-MCPD ester, chlorate and the solvent isododecane.
But not only chemical substances or compounds in baby food can harm our children. Sugar and fruit powder are also not adequate ingredients for such small children.
We like it: sugar-free nutrition for children
In Germany it is allowed that up to 30 % of the energy in baby food may come from added sugar. Bebivita’s Biscuit evening porridge almost exhausts this limit with 27%. The baby food therefore only receives the grade “sufficient” (4.0) in the test and thus ends up in last place of the baby food for the evening out of the glass.
Fruit powder also brings unnecessary sweetness into the porridge and can thus negatively influence the long-term taste of our children. Especially the Babydream Guten Abend Milchbrei Oat-Apple from Rossmann tasted much too sweet and artificially fruity to the testers, which is why they gave negative points in the test. Rossmann’s baby food, with a rating of just “sufficient” (4.5), is therefore the last baby food to be stirred. Here, as already mentioned above, pollutants were also found and the declaration was even “inadequate”.
The entire evening porridge test can be found in the 09/2019 issue of Stiftung Warentest and as a download at Stiftung Warentest.
Everyday life with babies is exhausting and often stressful, so we don’t always manage to prepare fresh baby food for our children. We would therefore buy the three baby foods in the test, which all scored “good”, without hesitation.
Our tip: make your own baby porridge
Not only we, but also Stiftung Warentest, advise parents to simply make the baby porridge themselves – with fresh fruits, milk and a grain suitable for babies with as high a nutrient content as possible, such as oat flakes and millet, this is not difficult and quick to do.
With the right ingredients, it’s even possible to keep it in stock so you don’t have to be in the kitchen every night. The right kitchen utensils will help you: a good blender, e.g. from Bosch for about €30* or a blender, e.g. from Philips for €125* (which also makes smoothies for parents and older children) and practical containers for storing, freezing, warming up and taking away, e.g. BPA-free from Deik for €20*.
We also know many parents who swear by a Thermomix or similar (somewhat cheaper) device, e.g. the Krupps Prep & Cook Classic for €455*, to produce their own baby food. We have no editorial experience with this, but we are looking forward to your opinion on our familie.de facebook page.
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