Parenting & Family

Why can't we get decent baby formula in Canada?

  • Last Updated:
  • Mar 4th, 2020 9:55 am
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 14, 2017
1314 posts
1845 upvotes
Toronto

Why can't we get decent baby formula in Canada?

Why does all the baby formula in Canada is composed of trash ingredients like corn syrup instead of lactose or palm oil and other trash such as soy? Doesn't matter how much you pay, could be top dollar, you look at the list of ingredients and it's the same trash.

I'm forced to order German brand Holle from Europe that costs an arm and a leg but also takes forever to ship. I was doing my research and even Earth's Best Organic formula switched out to corn syrup as their source of sugar. Wha the hell is going on?
10 replies
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jul 5, 2004
27438 posts
6807 upvotes
Good question. It appears to me that North Americans are typically lazy, uninformed and cheap, at least compared to most in Europe. We eat nothing but processed food and we feed that same garbage to our children. I also ordered Holle from Germany and at one point ran into problems. The CBSA or CFIA (can't remember which) had temporarily blocked the company I was dealing with from importing Holle into Canada. Thankfully I found a Canadian source that had Holle in stock and was able to buy from them until the importing nonsense got worked out. But leave it to Canada to block actual good baby formula from being imported here.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 14, 2017
1314 posts
1845 upvotes
Toronto
Shaner wrote: Good question. It appears to me that North Americans are typically lazy, uninformed and cheap, at least compared to most in Europe. We eat nothing but processed food and we feed that same garbage to our children. I also ordered Holle from Germany and at one point ran into problems. The CBSA or CFIA (can't remember which) had temporarily blocked the company I was dealing with from importing Holle into Canada. Thankfully I found a Canadian source that had Holle in stock and was able to buy from them until the importing nonsense got worked out. But leave it to Canada to block actual good baby formula from being imported here.
I'm guessing it's no coincidence that we don't have brands like Holle or Kabrita being sold here in Canada.
Newbie
Jun 14, 2019
21 posts
23 upvotes
Just checked the ingredients for Holle and Kabrita as I've never heard of these brands.

Holle stage 2 and above contains "palm oil" and "maltodextrin". Maltodextrin is just a close relative of corn syrup.

Kabrita stage 3 contains "palmitic oil", "palm kernel oil", "soybean oil" and "glucose syrup solids"

So even these european brands contain some of these ingredients. And it's not necessarily bad. Palmitic oil is found naturally in breastmilk so that's probably why they include palm oil.

I do agree that Europe has better regulations for baby foods and products. And so they probably are higher quality. Having said that, I think many of the North American brands are fine. I just choose the ones where their first ingredients are milk products (e.g. whey, lactose). Yes they may have maltodextrin and soybean oil. But so do some of the european formulations.
Deal Expert
Aug 2, 2001
18946 posts
10527 upvotes
Kirkland doesn't have corn syrup that I can see - I haven't checked the others but I suspect at least some others do not either. I would recommend researching a little further.

Image
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 14, 2017
1314 posts
1845 upvotes
Toronto
TrevorK wrote: Kirkland doesn't have corn syrup that I can see - I haven't checked the others but I suspect at least some others do not either. I would recommend researching a little further.

Image
That isn't too bad. Thx for posting.
Newbie
Jun 14, 2019
21 posts
23 upvotes
TrevorK wrote: This might be worth a read:
https://www.enfamil.com/articles/myth-v ... nt-formula

Obviously a source that might have bias but worth a read.
Thanks for the read. This is becoming quite educational. This article explains the different types of sugars in formulas https://babyformulaexpert.com/sugar-in-baby-formula/

Basically, says it's true that corn syrup does not equate to high-fructose corn syrup. However, lactose is still better than corn syrups/maltodextrin as it has a lower glycemic index.
Newbie
Sep 15, 2019
1 posts
1 upvote
Try Baby's Only Organic, a U.S. Brand. They ship to Canada. Lactose formulas and no corn ingredients. Organic DHA too, the only formula in world offering organic DHA source.
Deal Guru
User avatar
Jun 26, 2005
10111 posts
1966 upvotes
Toronto
Ooooo don't say the F word!
Banned
Feb 21, 2020
0 posts
You can try ordering online? There are lots of websites out there selling good baby formulas as reasonable price. I have been getting for my baby from [...] website. You can check it out

Top

Thread Information

There is currently 1 user viewing this thread. (0 members and 1 guest)