I was given samples free of charge from Beech-Nut without any further obligation. I chose to write this review based on my own opinions.
{Originally written May 2014} Baby Ben is now 8 months old (crazy!) and I've started to have some fun making different concoctions of baby food for him. Some are a bust but others have been a huge hit. I've been reminded over and over again that the introduction of foods is a ssssllllloooowww process, and for my babies, texture is everything. Everything has to be super smooth or it's getting spit out!
You all know I enjoy making my own baby food, but I always have a stash of pre-made food in my pantry for when we are on the go.
A couple of months ago I received an email asking if I would like to sample the new line of Beech-Nut baby food. My first thought was, is that company even around anymore? When I heard Beech-Nut I didn't get visions of fresh, wholesome baby food. They just seemed like a retro company who didn't really deliver what I was looking for to feed baby Ben. But hey, I like trying free samples, so I said yes.
Last month I received a beautiful presentation from Beech-Nut of four new flavors from their 100% Natural Real Baby Food line. I was impressed by the new, modern look, but that's only a small part of the story. As I investigated the bottle I had a hard time finding a long list of ingredients. In fact, on the front, it lists the ingredients (i.e. Just Carrots) and on the back, where the truth is really told, the only ingredient, was in fact, carrots. Nothing else. Ingredients test: passed!
As my eyebrows raised and curiosity climbed, I was willing to put this food to the real test of seeing what Ben thought about it. He LOVED it! In fact, he loved it so much, I had to try a taste too. So I can also speak from experience, that this stuff tastes good! Taste test: passed!
The last questions on my mind were about the sourcing of their product. I thought it was interesting that the line is not organic and while eating everything certified organic is not the most important thing to me, I wanted to know why. Quality/Source test: TBD... (Read on, but to spill the beans, they passed here too.)
I knew that I wanted to review the new line for you all so I emailed my contact to see if I could land an interview with someone important at Beech-Nut (as is now my desire for any review of product). This was no problem and I was able to interview Andy Dahlen, VP of Marketing & Sales. (BTW, he also did this interview with Forbes magazine this week.)
In effort to not make this post too too long, I'm going to summarize our conversation.
I'm pretty impressed with how Beech-Nut went about this whole re-branding, re-formulating (bad word for this but you know what I mean) thing. Here's what I found out:
What kind of changes did you make to your baby food and how did you know where to start?
Beech-Nut set out to make the best baby food in the world. They asked their two developers what would it take if there were no constraints. They set out to do this and it started with using new technologies and equipments that would perserve as much nutrition and flavor as possible.
With more moms making their own baby foods, they realizind industry was not meeting Mom’s needs. For those moms who have very little time but still wanted high quality, they needed to come up with something new.
Everything about this line is mom-driven. The flavors, ingredients, textures, everything was influenced by real moms all over the country throughout the whole process. Beech-Nut kept hearing that moms wanted to be able to control the ingredients and expose babies to the real textures, colors, flavors and aromas of real food.
Avocado is a food that many moms are giving their babies first (guilty!) and there were no options in baby food. They looked for super foods and nutrient dense foods to include in their line. Initially they had 150 flavors developed but used taste panels to narrow down to the best ones.
Where and how do you source the produce?
Everything is driven by finding the highest quality produce. Most sources are largely from North America. Bananas are from Costa Rica. Avocados are from Mexico. All the butternut squash used grows 25 miles from their upstate NY offices/facilities.
They have developed strong relationships with farmers and suppliers and are working with them to ensure highest quality and look at opportunities to do custom crops just for Beech-Nut.
All suppliers use good agricultural practices. Beech-Nut educates them on methods to reduce pesticide use. They test for pesticide levels and look for opportunities to continue to improving.
They are not certified organic because they cannot ensure the quality that they need at this time. They evaluate crops in the dirty dozen and investigate how using organic could work. For example, organic honeycrisp apples are mostly sold to fresh market. The supply wasn't strong enough to be able to use them.
Beech-Nut is in the process of getting many of their new line verified by the Non-GMO Project. This seems to be something that is important to moms, therefore it is important to them.
How is the baby food prepared?
Produce is pureed cold with reduced exposure to heat (this is really imporant). They has invested in completely new technology and equipment to make this possible. They just started making food in early February of this year. To read more detail about the cooking process, Download Just gentle cooking.
What is special about Beech-Nut as a company?
They are a small company with tremendous passion that believes in honesty and transparency. They employ under 300 people in one roof in upstate NY.
During the process of developing this new line, they talked to 3000 moms across country. Quantitative studies were used too. They always used mom’s feedback to drive decisions.
Have you tried the Beech-Nut line? Tell me about it in a comment.
