How safe is formula we give to babies?

Modern life demands for both parents to be employed, thereby putting pressure on families. This is exacerbated in families with young children.

With this pressure comes the option of relying on baby formula rather than beast milk as young mothers are failing to cope with such demands.  But just how safe is this milk?

Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) executive director John Kapito is wary of imported formulas, saying they are not properly labelled.

Kapito said some of they come labelled in either Chinese or Arabic languages; hence, making it difficult for consumers to know their specifications.

He noted that it is against the laws of the country which demand that tins or cartons of products are written in a language easily understood by the locals.

“Improper labelling has its repercussions and in the end consumers do not know how to use the milk.

“We should not be reactive by confiscating baby foods but rather our agents must be fully empowered to make sure that we are importing only the kind of milk which will be easily used by our mothers,” said Kapito.

Kapito blamed enforcing agents such as the Malawi Bureau of Standards, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Health for not being proactive to arrest the situation.

Principal nutritionist in the Ministry of Health Tapiwa Ngulube said government is against the tendency by some shop owners to sell breast feeding substitutes  that do not have relevant information.

“As government, we have embarked on a campaign to confiscate milk and other foods which are not properly labelled and do not guide mothers how to prepare the stuff for the betterment of the children.

“Malawi is party to the essential declaration and code of marketing on breast-feeding substitutes. This code was initiated by developing countries after noting that breast feeding had gone down and women were opting for formula and other foodstuffs,” said Ngulube.

She said after it was discovered that breast feeding was best for any child, governments all over the world are encouraging mothers, including those who are HIV positive, to continuously breast-feed their children because the mother’s milk is the best.

“We have environmental health monitors who periodically visit shops to check information on the tins and other packaging materials.

“In the early 90s, we asked Nestle, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of baby formula, to consider having messages on milk tins in Chichewa but they rebuffed us saying that the Malawi market is small and will be very expensive for them to have Chichewa messages on the tins,” she said.

She said government is also aware that some shop owners, for the fear of incurring huge losses, reduce prices by up to 80 percent less of the selling price.

Ngulube said government will take such shop owners to task.