Something about Gerber foods doesn't make sense to me?

Question

I've started making my own baby food, but recently saw a container of Organic Banana stage 2 food by Gerber at a friend's house. It says that it has no preservatives, but also says that it can last several months on the shelf. After making my own baby food, I know that they spoil after sitting out and only last about a month in the freezer. How can Gerber have such a long shelf life without preservatives? I'm just curious.

Lol, amos...I'm SE asian and we don't eat jelly. That makes perfect sense to me though! TY

Answer 1

Because of the canning process. Preservative in baby foods only keep it preserved for a short while after the jar is opened.

Canning kills all the bacteria, and seals it against new ones, once its opened it starts all over again.

holyshit people, are you retarded? lol. They heat the jars of cooked baby food and then seal it with a lid. Its called canning, that IS preserving it without chemicals. There is nothing added to it, just heat.

holy crap does no one on here have a grandmother who makes jelly?

Okay, SE asian is excusable, theyre not big on jars and cans so that makes sense, but the rest of the home grown americans are, and THATS whats hilarious... lol Good job on making your own babyfood, holy cow thats a lot of work! :)

Answer 2

It's the canning process and in fact you can do this at home as well. This is the perfect time of year in the northern hemisphere to find canning jars and lids on sale. You can get the very small jam/jelly jars and lids, make up your baby food and fill the jars to a quarter inch from the top. Close the lids and drop the cans into a pot of boiling water. The water must cover the lid by at least an inch. Bring the water back up to boiling for 2 minutes and then remove the jars (they have special canning tongs you can buy to remove the jars). As they cool you will hear the lids popping or you will see that they have bowed inward slightly. You will not have boiled the jars long enough to cook the food but long enough to cause the air in that top quarter inch you left to expand and escape out the jar and then as it cools the air "shrinks" again but the rubber seal prevents the air from getting back in. This vacuum seals the jar and keeps the food good for at least 18 months. This works great for fruits and vegetables. You won't be able to do meat because it needs salt to preserve it which you don't want to give baby. Meat contains bacteria that canning doesn't prevent from growing but the salt does.

I was raised in the country and my Mom did this in the fall with the stuff from the gardens and bushels of fruit she would buy for making canned fruits. Then when she opened a jar she would put the rest in an ice cube tray and freeze it and it would get used up over the next few days. Ice cube trays hold the perfect amount for a feeding!

Answer 3

Something about Gerber doesn't make sense to me either...

Like others have mentioned, canning, jarring, bottling foods preserves them. Same reason why canned foods have such a long shelf life, and other things like pickles can keep bottled for so long, but need to be refrigerated after opening.

As far as Gerber goes... don't even get me started! I personally won't take feeding advice from a baby food company. Some of the ingredients and when they feel it is time to introduce certain foods is kind of out to lunch and whoever thought it was best for your baby to eat only one consistent texture of food (until they are ready to progress to the next Stage???). I also don't understand why anyone would buy jarred banana... it's the most plentiful and easiest fruit to serve fresh to your baby.

Sorry for the rant!

Answer 4

Some baby foods have onion in them, so be very careful. It is actually possible to feed the pup a mush made by soaking a good quality puppy food in warm water, or you can get some "Esbilac" or "Just Born" milk replacement for puppies, warm that and soak the puppy kibble in it, then mash with a fork. You can thin it out by mixing in a bit more water or Esilac. It is not necessary at their age to add the puppy milk replacement but it would be healthier. Keep plenty of fresh water available in a shallow bowl. I would not advise baby food. I've raised orphaned animals and had to introduce them to kibble at about four weeks old and that is how I did it.

Answer 5

It's because the jars are air sealed and bacteria can't get in. I've wondered the exact same thing because I was hesitant to feed jarred food to my son because I didn't want to fill him wiht the bad preservatives either.

Answer 6

I never thought about that before, That is a good question! I would contact gerber and ask them

Answer 7

there jars are air sealed.?? contact gerber, they will tell you

i just looked at the food i have, i use Heinz and it has shelf life (un opened jar) of 2 years.

Answer 8

They are likely pasteurized after they are sealed to kill off any bacteria, etc.

Edit: Huh? Why the two thumbs down? Pasteurizing or canning, same thing!

Answer 9

It's all in the canning process.

Answer 10

i'M NOT QUITE SURE...but I do know that they don't last as long as they say they should. I buy my daughters food, 14 at a time. 7 fruits and 7 vegis. WELL...I usually use more fruit then vegi's, and I have noticed that if you don't use them rather quickly that they get runny and it's hard to keep the food on the spoon. I no more than get the food on the spoon and by the time I get it to her mouth, 1/2 of it has dropped off. And I've tried all kinds of spoons...so I'm thinking Gerber food is expiring before they say it is really suppose to.