Why baby food has its own legal requirements
Baby food is subject to the EU regulations on food for infants and young children. These laws are significantly stricter than those that apply to regular food and govern everything from the quality of raw materials to manufacturing, analytical requirements and labelling.
This is because infants are more sensitive to, among other things:
- heavy metals
- mycotoxins
- pesticide residues
- unnecessary additives
Therefore, baby food must meet some of the lowest limits available in the food industry.
What baby food quality means in practice
The fact that an ingredient is approved for baby food means that it has passed significantly stricter requirements than the corresponding ingredient in the regular store.
Baby food quality includes extra low limit values for:
- cadmium and lead (heavy metals)
- mold toxins (mycotoxins)
- pesticide residues
In addition, requirements are placed on hygiene, traceability, microbiological levels and process controls.
But even though baby food legislation is strict, there are areas where it does not cover everything. Here, the origin of the ingredients, where they are grown and the production method play a major role.
Stricter rules for additives in baby food
Additives that are not allowed in baby food are:
❌ preservatives
❌ dyes
❌ sweetener
❌ artificial flavors
This is one of the clearest differences from regular food and creates a basic sense of security in the baby food category.
Heavy metals – that's why there's so much talk about them when it comes to baby food
Heavy metals such as cadmium and lead are naturally found in soils around the world and are taken up by plants. This is especially true of cereals and root vegetables, which are often important ingredients in baby food. Since young children are particularly sensitive, there are very low limits for heavy metals in ready-made baby food – and this is an important safety measure.
But there is one thing that many people don't know:
Low limits protect the end product – but say nothing about how the raw material was grown
The Child Food Act regulates how low the content must be in the finished product , but does not say:
- where the raw material may be grown
- how clean the earth must be
- whether the cultivation site is close to or far below the limit values
- if large quantities of raw material need to be discarded to meet the requirements
This means that two producers can meet the same limit value –
but have raw materials that differ enormously in purity.
Therefore, the cultivation location plays a major role
Soils can naturally contain more or less cadmium depending on:
- the geology of the area
- historical industry
- previous fertilization
- the general health of the earth
A raw material from a “clean” soil is automatically well below the baby food limits. A raw material from a contaminated soil can be much closer to the limits – even if it is still legal.
How Unna ensures raw materials with naturally low heavy metal content
For us, it's not enough that the final product is “approved.” We want to start right from the ground up.
That's why we choose raw materials from growing areas such as:
- tested to have naturally low levels of heavy metals
- historically shown stable clean levels
- grown by suppliers who can demonstrate analysis and traceability
For example, for the oats that we use in our gruel & porridge, this means that:
- only a small part of all Swedish oats meets our requirements
- we select the batches that are well below the baby food limit values
- each batch is analyzed before use
- we reject harvests that do not meet the standard
For you as a parent, this means:
- a product that consistently falls well below the limit values
- a raw material that is pure from the start, not just “approved” at the end
- a choice that supports sustainable farming with less waste and cleaner soils
Mold toxins – that's why they are checked extra carefully in baby food
Mold toxins (mycotoxins) can form naturally in grain if something goes wrong during post-harvest handling. This primarily concerns:
- insufficient drying of grain
- storage in too high humidity
- inadequate handling during transport or intermediate storage
That's why grains like oats, corn, and graham need to be checked extra carefully in baby food — even when they're grown organically.
Because young children are more sensitive than adults, baby food has very low limits for mold toxins.
This is how we ensure clean grains at Unna
To ensure that all of our cereal raw materials maintain baby food quality, we work with controls in several stages:
- Supplier tests – our grain suppliers analyze each harvest before it is shipped.
- Raw material analyses at our company – each batch is tested before it is used in manufacturing.
- Batch tests during production – we also analyze during the actual manufacturing process to catch any deviations.
This way, we only use cereals that meet the strictest requirements for baby food — and you as parents get a product with consistent and high purity.
Pesticides – why Swedish & organic matters
Some people believe that baby food quality automatically means that the ingredients are free of all pesticide residues. This is not the case.
Baby food legislation regulates some pesticides — but far from all
Sweden and the EU still allow hundreds of different pesticides from the EU and thousands globally, and the limits differ between countries. At the same time, food imported into Sweden may have been produced with raw materials grown with pesticides such as:
- are banned in Sweden , but
- are still allowed in other countries , and
- are not systematically tested when imported.
This means that the stricter limit values in the Baby Food Act provide a certain level of security — but not complete protection against all types of chemical pesticides.
Here Swedish and organic become extra important
That's why we at Unna choose:
- Swedish raw materials , where the use of chemical pesticides is among the most regulated in the world
- organic raw materials , where such agents may not be used at all
- traceability back to the farm , so we know how each raw material was produced
This reduces the risks that the legislation does not cover — and is one of the most important reasons why we have actively chosen to go beyond the minimum requirements.
Fats in baby food – ingredients where quality makes a big difference
Fat is one of the raw materials that can most easily carry pesticide residues and environmental toxins . This makes fats one of the most important ingredients to choose with care in baby food – especially in products such as milk substitutes, porridge and gruel. That is why we always choose organic fats. You can read more about the fat composition of our products here .
Why organic fats are especially important
Organic fats mean:
- that the raw materials were grown without synthetic pesticides
- that the risk of pesticide residues is significantly lower
- that the cultivation system is cleaner and gentler also for soil health
- that the purity of the fat becomes significantly higher
Since babies get a lot of their energy from fat, this is an important part of the whole.
Unna's choice: organic fats throughout the range
At Unna, we use organic fats in all our products – not just where required.
This means that:
- the same clean, organic fats are used in milk substitutes, porridge and gruel
- We reject fat batches that do not meet our requirements.
- we choose suppliers with a clean growing environment and full traceability
It's part of our extra step beyond legal requirements.
Swedish, organic milk – the basis of our products
Milk is one of the main ingredients in both milk substitutes, porridge and gruel. That's why we use Swedish, organic milk that contains milk.
This means that the milk comes from farms with:
- high demands on animal welfare
- clean organic feed chain
- low antibiotic use
- cultivation without synthetic pesticides
- strong traceability
All of this combined means that the organic and Swedish qualities provide a very pure and controlled milk raw material. For us at Unna, it is an obvious choice when we build baby food.
Organic fats + Swedish organic milk = a cleaner whole
When the two largest nutrient carriers in baby food – milk and fat – are both organic and traceable, it creates a clean and safe foundation throughout the entire range.
That's why we base all our milk-based products on:
- Swedish organic milk
- organic fats
- controlled growing environments with low risk of unwanted substances
We think that's real baby food quality.
Why Unna chooses the harder path
We could have settled for standard quality – but we don't.
We choose:
- Swedish raw materials , where possible
- organic ingredients in all products
- cultivation areas with naturally low heavy metal levels
- crops tested specifically for baby food
- Swedish production
- full traceability from farm to finished product
For us, baby food is about purity, transparency and care at every step.
Summary
Baby food quality is about:
- stricter legal requirements
- cleaner raw materials
- low levels of heavy metals and pesticides
- controlled fat sources
- protection against unnecessary additives
But also about everything that is not regulated – where the choice of raw materials, cultivation location and an organic value chain make a big difference.
At Unna, we combine organic, Swedish and full traceability to create products that are as clean and safe as possible — from the first bottle onward.
See our range and read more about our products here!
