Have you ever thought about the process that companies use to prepare the jars and pouches of baby food on the store shelves? You should.
Many companies buy pre-processed fruits and vegetables that have been chemically washed, milled into a pulp and heated to high temperatures then store in large drums. The purees are then mixed in large vats to make the different mixtures and combinations. At this point extra ingredients like citric and ascorbic acids and preservative are added back into the purees to make up the nutrients that were cooked out. The puree is then pumped through hot pipes to maintain the commercially sterile 'quality'; filled into the, mostly, non-recyclable packaging; and finally reheated to make shelf stable which cooks out any of the existing vitamins and nutrients. Pouches and jars are boxed, warehoused to sit on a pallet, or shipped to stores to sit on shelves. This is generally the same process for all shelf stable baby food...even organic.
The aseptic process used by the big companies doesn't maintain the integrity or inherent qualities of the fruits and veggies. I've heard many times from moms that their little one loves a certain baby food but when the actual fruit or veggie is introduced it's shunned. That's because in actuality, what they've tasted is really an over-processed version of the real product.
Xoxo...Ann