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Researchers call for spouted baby food pouches to be classified as drinks

Half of spouted baby food pouches contain liquids that delay the development of feeding skills and should be called drinks, according to researchers.

UK regulators are being asked whether baby foods sold with spouted pouches – squeezable pouches with a plastic nozzle and resealable cap designed to be sucked – should carry a ‘complementary food’ label, given that most are sold as liquids.

At a glance:

• Almost half of the spouted pouches contained liquids, and less than 10% met criteria for suitable complementary food.
• The researchers warn that “providing liquids only will delay the development of feeding skills”.
• They call for regulators to remove spouted pouches from the “baby foods suitable for complementary feeding” category.

The question comes from researchers at the University of Glasgow and the First Steps Nutrition Trust who conducted a study of 298 commercial baby foods sold in Scotland between October and November 2024. They found that 178 (60%) were spouted pouches.

Publishing their research in the BMJ journal, the authors found that of the 178 spouted pouch products, almost half (49%) contained liquids, and only 14 (8.5%) met the researchers' criteria for suitable complementary food.

Texture: What attributes determine whether a product is a food or drink?

To determine whether the 298 baby foods could technically be classified as a liquid, purée, or food requiring mastication (chewing, grinding, or crushing with teeth), the researchers scored them using the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative framework, a scale designed for swallowing difficulties.

“Our research found that half of baby foods in spouted pouches were scored between one and three, this means they range between slight[ly] to moderately thick liquids or liquidised food,” Dr Ada Garcia, first author of the study and lead of the Public Health Nutrition component at the MSc Human Nutrition at Glasgow University, told Ingredients Network.

Of the 120 baby foods not sold in a spouted pouch format, such as jars, trays, and spoutless pouches, 77% were classified as soft, chewable foods. Only 10% of spouted pouches fell into that category.

Garcia explained that just because a pouch is labelled purée doesn’t mean it is one.

“We argue from the objective measured texture in our study that the spouted pouches are delivering thick liquids, which is not the same as pureed food,” she said.

Spouted pouches are “displacing milk” for infants under six months

All 178 spouted pouches audited were marked, on pack, as suitable for children under one. Two-thirds were marked as suitable for children under six months – a finding that goes against advice from the UK’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, which recommends infants six months and below be exclusively breastfed, if possible, and that solid foods are not introduced at this time.

Asked whether a liquid pouch introduced before six months of age competes with or complements milk, Garcia said: “They [liquid pouches] are displacing milk.”

“Infant feeding recommendations indicate that infants aged six to12 months should only drink breast milk or infant formula and water. Sugary drinks including fruit juice are not recommended,” she added.

“The introduction of solid food is needed to supply nutrients that are no longer available in breast milk or infant formula, for example iron; however nutrient adequacy is not the only important aspect,” she said.

“Infants need to develop oromotor [control and coordination of muscles in the lips, tongue, cheeks and jaw] skills to be able to learn how to chew and swallow solid foods. This process can be done in a sequential manner, going from purees to more lumpy and harder textures or by offering finger-sized foods in a controlled environment as in baby-led weaning.”

She warned that “providing liquids only will delay the development of feeding skills”.

Should baby pouches classified as food be relabelled?

In August 2025, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care published voluntary industry guidelines for commercial baby food and drink.

The guidelines gave businesses 18 months “to reduce levels of sugar and salt” and “improve the labelling and marketing of these products to help make it easier for parents and carers to make a healthier choice”.

Within the marketing and labelling guidelines, it “strongly encourage[s] food producers” to “have clear feeding instructions (for example ‘use a spoon’ or ‘do not suck’) on the front of products packaged in pouches with a nozzle”. It also recommends food producers “produce fewer highly blended foods”.

Garcia is calling for regulators to review labelling of spouted pouches. When asked what this would encompass, she said: “We would like that spouted pouches are not classified as baby foods suitable for complementary feeding, as these are mainly drinks, not pureed or soft foods.

“They should be called drinks and should not be marketed for infants as they are high in sugar, just like fruit smoothies.”

Study audited pouches from 2024: Has anything changed in 2026?

The audit took place between October and November 2024, which was nine months before the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care published its voluntary guidelines.

When asked if she would expect the same results if the audit were repeated in 2026, Garcia said she would, but with a caveat: “The baby food industry is very dynamic, and as we speak they are likely to be developing new products.

“We have recently (July 2026) done a survey of commercial baby foods in three UK supermarkets and found similar products to the ones in 2024, a predominance of spouted pouches made of fruits.”