Quality and Safety Checks in Infant Formula
Feeding your baby is one of the most important things you do as a parent, and you should feel confident that the formula you choose is safe and meets your baby’s nutritional needs. That’s why every step of making infant formula—from sourcing ingredients to the can on the shelf—is held to some of the strictest safety and quality standards in the entire food industry.
How is infant formula regulated?
In the U.S., infant formula is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In fact, making sure formula is safe is so important that Congress passed a law in 1980 that created strict protections for babies’ nutrition during their first year of life.
FDA regulations cover everything: what nutrients must be included, how formulas are tested, packaged, and labeled, and even how they’re reviewed before they can be sold. These rules are in place to make sure every formula is a safe, complete source of nutrition for babies from birth to 12 months.
What quality checks does formula go through?
At the Mead Johnson Nutrition Institute, our focus is on the science that guides every step of infant formula development and safety testing:
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Tracking every ingredient. Formula manufacturers track each ingredient from the original supplier through production to make sure it’s handled safely at every stage.
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Testing every step. Throughout manufacturing, formulas are tested repeatedly—from raw materials to finished product—to ensure they meet or exceed FDA standards for safety and nutrition.
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Batch codes for safety. Every can of formula carries a unique code so that, if there’s ever a question, it can be traced back to the exact batch for review.
Only formula that passes all required safety checks and meets these rigorous standards makes it onto store shelves.
What makes these standards so strict?
Infant formula isn’t just another food—it’s often a baby’s only source of nutrition for the first six months of life. That’s why the FDA requirements sets some of the toughest requirements in the entire food industry.
At the Mead Johnson Nutrition Institute, we build on that foundation, using more than a century of infant nutrition research to help guide how formulas are designed, tested, and balanced to support babies’ growth and development.