The Maillard Reaction in Powdered Infant Formula

Enterobacter sakazakii: an emerging pathogen in powdered infant formula.

Enterobacter sakazakii represents a significant risk to the health of neonates. This bacterium is an emerging opportunistic pathogen that is associated with rare but life-threatening cases of meningitis, necrotizing enterocolitis, and sepsis in premature and full-term infants. Infants aged <28 days are considered to be most at risk. Feeding with powdered infant formula (PIF) has been epidemiolo...

Powdered infant formula and fatal infection with Enterobacter sakazakii.

Home preparation of powdered infant formula: is it safe?

Breastfeeding is the natural way of feeding infants and young children. WHO recommends, as a public health measure, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and continued breastfeeding up to 2 years and beyond (1). Yet a large proportion of infants worldwide is formula fed (2,3). Of these, the largest majority is fed with powdered infant formula (PIF). In Italy in 1998, an estimated 15% of newborns...

Maillard Reaction Evaluation by Furosine Determination During Infant Cereal Processing

The furosine content of infant cereals has been used to evaluate the thermal damage caused to those foods during their manufacture (toasting, amylolysis and drying steps). The mean furosine contents of raw and toasted flours were 13·7 and 13·8 mg/100 g of protein, respectively. The furosine content increased to 47·3 mg/100 g of protein after hydrolysis using alpha-amylase. The amylolysis proces...

Time for the 70°C water precautionary option in the home dilution of powdered infant formula.

Powdered infant formulas (PIF) are usually not sterile and may frequently be contaminated by several bacteria strains. Among them, Cronobacter species, previously known as Enterobacter sakazakii, is one of the most harmful, since it might be the causative agent of sepsis and meningitis in newborns and preterm infants during the first weeks of life. The mortality rate of these infections is up t...