Nutritional Evaluation of Some Commercial Infant Formula Consumed in Misurata-Libya

Mohamed A. Elbagermi¹*, Howell G.M. Edwards², Adel I. Alajtal¹, Nada A. Alsedawi¹

¹Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Misurata, P.O. Box, 1338 Misurata, Libya

²Raman Spectroscopy Group, University Analytical Centre, Division of Chemical and Forensic Sciences, University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD7 1DP, UK.

Corresponding Author: [email protected] ; Tel: +218925506893

Recieved Date: December 16, 2017; Accepted Date: December 26, 2017; Published Date: 07 January 2018

Citation: Elbagermi MA, Edwards HGM, Alajtal AI, Alsedawi NA. Nutritional evaluation of some commercial infant formula consumed in Misurata-Libya. Trop J Nat Prod Res. 2018; 2(1):51-56.  https://doi.org//10.26538/tjnpr/v2i1.11

Copyright: © 2018 Elbagermi et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

ABSTRACT

Baby food for infants and young children conforms to a set of strict guidelines e.g. maximum levels for pesticide residues, microbiological contamination. In this study the nutritive value of some commercial baby food commonly consumed in Misrata, Libya was evaluated chemically including determination of pesticide residues and bacterial contamination. The protein contents differed significantly among most of the examined baby food and ranged from 7.5% to 13.4% while the fat contents of the infant formulas ranged from 1.79% to 13.2%.  The actual protein and fat contents were lower than that declared on the label in all the baby foods evaluated. The crude fiber content was in the range of 5.68 – 15.73% for the Pulp of fruits and from 13.85 – 20.45% for dried fruits and vegetables. All samples in this study had low ascorbic acid content and total dissolved solids content and did not meet Libyan standard/specifications. The data presented showed that all of the pesticide residues monitored were observed to be in the concentrations below the limit of detection (LOD). All products analyzed during the study did not reveal any bacterial contamination. In Conclusion, there were discrepancies between the actual chemical composition of the infant formulas and those declared by the manufactures on their labels. Further studies are required to evaluate the chemical composition of infant formulas on a greater number of brands to ensure the accuracy of the contents declared on their labels.