Occurrence, sources, and pathways of chemical contaminants in infant formulas

Abstract

Infant formulas are manufactured products to meet specific nutritional requirements for infants. However, infant formulas can contain harmful substances, such as chemical contaminants and residues, normally due to possible contamination of the raw material or from the production chain. Some studies have demonstrated that veterinary drugs, pesticides, mycotoxins, heavy metals, packaging materials, within other chemicals are found in infant formulas from different sources of contamination. It is known that some of these substances can be hepatotoxic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, mutagenic, immunotoxic, contributing to antibiotic resistance, among other detrimental consequences for consumers’ health. The purpose of this review is to assess the scientific evidence concerning the occurrence, sources, and pathways of contamination, as well as the detrimental impacts on infant health due to the possible presence of chemical contaminants and residues in infant formulas. Moreover, strategies to reduce the risk of contamination of infant formulas are presented to ensure the highest standards of quality of infant formulas. The entire infant formula manufacturing process should be monitored and controlled to minimize the risk of contamination during processing, storage, and distribution, besides ensuring the use of raw materials with as low as acceptable levels of harmful substances in order to assure that the final product shall comply with the maximum levels and maximum residue limits, when established, for residues and contaminants in the final product.

Modified Baby Milk—Bioelements Composition and Toxic Elements Contamination

“…A potential source of artificial milk contamination is the raw material derived from diary animals, manufacturing process, packaging materials, improper storage, and preparation of food portions. Such contaminants include pesticides, non-essential toxic elements, drugs, mycotoxins, chemical compounds of heat treatments, or persistent organic pollutants [ 51 ]. Since infants are susceptible to heavy metal toxicity due to rapid growth and development of organs and tissues, especially central nervous system, so far milk for newborns and infants has been tested for the presence of toxic elements such as: Cd, As, Hg, Be, Ti, Sn, Tl, U, V, Sb, Ba, La, Li, and Rb, as well as Ni, Pb, and Sr, which were the subject of research in this paper [ 5 , 14 , 15 , 17 , 37 , 41 , 42 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ].…”

Nitrato e nitrito em fórmulas lácteas infantis para crianças menores de 6 meses de idade

“…Altas concentrações de nitrato em água são provenientes da contaminação do uso de fertilizantes (Costa et al, 2017). O primeiro ano de vida é um momento crucial no desenvolvimento humano e a qualidade das fórmulas infantis é muito importante para garantir o bom funcionamento dos sistemas nervoso, reprodutivo, digestivo, respiratório e imunológico (Pereira, et al 2020). O nitrato pode aparecer em leite em pó e nas fórmulas infantis em consequência do processo industrial, como contaminante dos sais adicionados na fabricação de leites fortificados e fórmulas infantis (Pistón et al, 2011).…”

“…O nitrato pode aparecer em leite em pó e nas fórmulas infantis em consequência do processo industrial, como contaminante dos sais adicionados na fabricação de leites fortificados e fórmulas infantis (Pistón et al, 2011). Diferentes estudos mostraram metahemoglobinemia infantil relacionados à água de poço contaminada com nitrito/nitrato, utilizada no preparo de fórmulas infantis (Pereira et al, 2020;Savino et al, 2006). Da mesma forma, Indyk & Woolard (2011) relatam que os bebês estão no topo da lista das potenciais vítimas de toxicidade por nitrito/nitrato em virtude dessa contaminação a partir da reconstituição de fórmulas infantis com água contaminada.…”

Safety and quality evaluations of liquid milk and infant formula products in China in 2022

“…Pesticides have been reported in milk and milk products after consuming contaminated animal feed (pastures, pellet products, and cereals), water, and air [58,59]. The most common compounds have been fatsoluble persistent organic pollutant pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and dieldrin [60].…”