helpful stuff

I hope you find these answers really useful - but if you do want to ask anything else don't hesitate to contact us.

• Organic food is expensive. Why is it better?
  Organic food is expensive - but here are 10 great reasons why it's better!

  1. It's healthy. On average, organic food contains higher levels of vitamin C and essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and chromium as well as cancer-fighting antioxidants.

  2. No nasty additives. Organic food doesn't contain food additives which can cause health problems such as heart disease, osteoporosis, migraines and hyperactivity.

  3. No GM Genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are allowed under organic standards.

  4. Organic farms respect our water resources. Organic farming doesn’t use polluting chemicals which is better for our water resources.

  5. High standards. Organic food comes from trusted sources. All organic farms and food companies are inspected at least once a year. The standards for organic food are laid down in European, US and Canadian law.

  6. Work in harmony with nature. Organic agriculture respects the balance demanded of a healthy ecosystem and wildlife is encouraged. Yay ®

  7. Helps rural communities thrive. USDA reported that in 1997, half of U.S. farm production came from only 2% of farms. Organic agriculture can be a lifeline for small farms because it offers an alternative market where sellers can command fair prices for crops.

  8. Organic abundance! Now every food category has an organic alternative. And non-food agricultural products are being grown organically – even cotton, which most experts felt could not be grown this way.

  9. Builds healthy soil. Soil is the foundation of the food chain. The primary focus of organic farming is to use practices that build healthy soils.

  10. Top for taste. Many people prefer organic food because they say it tastes better. It’s common sense – well-balanced soils produce strong, healthy plants that become nourishing food for people and animals.

  Source: Organic Trade Association

• How can your products have a 12-month shelf life?

  We've found a really safe and effective way to lock in all freshness of the fruit and vegetables, without compromising the goodness. Our pureed fruits and vegetables are blended together then gently and quickly pasteurized (like milk) at 200ºF for just 10 seconds, then popped into individual pouches while still hot and held at 185ºF  for another 2 and a half minutes - so that the fruits stay safe and tasty in a natural way without the use of artificial preservatives. In fact we have at least 4 little secrets that help create healthy, safe, tasty and long shelf life food.

  These secrets are:

  1. We carefully balance our recipes to be sufficiently naturally acidic to be hostile to bugs but safe for kids

  2. We flash pasteurize the fruits to kill any existing or dormant bugs

  3. We fill the pouches hot so that the pouches themselves are free from bugs

  4. We draw a vacuum and add an inert gas into the top of the pouch before we screw the caps on tightly. This means that there is no oxygen in the pouch to feed anything in there.
  
  Oops! They're no longer secrets!

• Can I take Ella's Kitchen products on a plane?

  Our pouches are perfectly fine on aircraft. If you're putting them in your suitcase I'd recommend wrapping them in plastic in case they get pierced. Crushed organic fruit and vegetables are lovely but not all over your new summer dress.
  
  If you're carrying them on board I'd just be mindful of cautious customs officials who may think the Baby Food falls into the 'liquids over 3 oz or 90ml' category. I was once made to open a pouch!

• Can I freeze Ella's Kitchen products?

  Often kids - and especially babies - don't get all the way through their dinner so it's good to know the food doesn't have to go to waste.

  It's fine to freeze Ella's Kitchen products as long as it's frozen within 24 hours of opening the pouch, and consumed quickly after the product has been thoroughly defrosted. We wouldn't recommend freezing food that has already been warmed though.

  You can freeze it in one two ways. Either pop the pouch straight in the freezer or you can squeeze leftovers into ice cube trays to create mini portions.

• Do Ella's Kitchen products contain nuts?

  Our Ella's Kitchen stage 1 and Smoothie Fruits are all nut and nut oil free- as are our factories - yeah!

• Are the natural vitamins + minerals maintained?

  Our stage 1 baby foods, Smoothie Fruits and cooking sauces are made by pasteurizing pureed fruits and vegetables.  This process gently heats the foods to 200ºF for a few seconds, fills the pouch and then holds the temperature for a few minutes. 
   
  This processing is much less than jarred baby foods or sauces which will go up to over 248ºF –often with the subsequent degradation of taste, color and nutritional content. 
   
  Any cooking process will break down some mineral and vitamin contents (including home cooking), and the more the food is processed the more is likely to be lost. We decided not to put mineral and vitamin contents on our pouches because we do not add any as specific ingredients, nor do we make any claims about them. 

  Some foods that have been taken to very high temperatures may have added synthetic or extracted vitamins if their manufacturers are worried that too many are likely to have been destroyed, but we believe that our processing is much closer to home made foods and keep our ingredients as simple and easy to understand as possible – just like you would do at home.

• Are Smoothie Fruits suitable for weaning?

  Smoothie Fruits are primarily designed to be a health lunchbox snack for older children. That said they are fine for babies 6 months and older as long as you know that your baby isn't allergic to any of the ingredients.
  All the fruits we use are on the recommended list for babies who've started weaning, so I'd recommend trying individual fruits first before feeding them our products - so for example, try individual samples of fresh berries, apple and banana and if they're fine with those you can start feeding them the Red One.

  Perhaps the most important fruit to pre-test with your baby is kiwi fruit - as some babies and children are allergic to this fruit.

• What materials do you use in your packaging?

  Our pouches are made from two kinds of plastic which 'sandwich' the aluminum foil in the middle. The aluminum forms an impermeable barrier between what's inside the pouch and the outside world; one of the effects of which means we can naturally preserve our products without adding additives, preservatives etc. 
  Both layers of plastic have been chosen by our supplier to be safe with food. We have their written confirmation that the pouches do not contain any Bisphenol A or Phthalates, which the main toxin concerns are relating to plastics. The aluminum used is BPA free as well and our caps and 'straws' are made from PE plastic which is very common in food use and has served this type of packaging for many years.

• Can I recycle Ella's Kitchen packaging?

  All our cardboard outer packaging is 100% recyclable - and in fact is 90% recycled card itself.  The foil pouches require a slightly longer answer.
  
  Our Stage 1 and Smoothie Fruit pouches cannot be recycled through the usual recycling centers because they contain aluminum foil and plastic fused together and the technology is not available yet to separate the laminated materials.  The over all amount of packaging however, is reduced by having these together.  
  
  We are hoping to introduce a recyclable version of our pouch within the next year - once some clever people help us to crack the little hurdle we are facing with the materials.
  
  We faced something of a dilemma when deciding on the packaging for our products. On the one hand the pouches are perfect for kids and babies - squeezy and tactile, while also being the best way to preserve the food naturally without additives or preservatives. But on the other hand they can’t
  be easily recycled.
  
  Our supplier did provide us with an independent audit of the Life Cycle impact the packaging has on the environment. It shows that the energy used and the environmental impact made when making, transporting and destroying the packaging is significantly less than PET plastic bottles, tetra packs and glass. The packaging also uses 80% less materials than these alternatives. Technically, under US law, our packaging is approved as recyclable because when incinerated it produces more energy than is used in production and transportation. But US government agencies define and deal with recycling in different ways so we didn’t feel we could indicate on pack that the product was recyclable.
  
  We are currently researching a number of proactive solutions for recycling the pouches outside of traditional channels and will report on our findings.  We also ensure that our US supplier offsets our carbon footprint.
  
  So, the short answer is that our pouches are unlikely to be able to be recycled.  The bigger picture is that they have a reduced environmental impact, over their full life, than the other forms of packaging we considered using.

• Why is there a splash of lemon juice in some Ella’s Kitchen products?

  Our Smoothie Fruit and Stage 1 pouches are designed to be as close as possible to something you would make at home.  To help us do this we carefully balance our recipes so that they are naturally acidic - gentle enough for little tummies, but hostile to nasty bugs. This reduces the need for lots of heat processing, enabling us to gently pasteurize these products and not to use preservatives, unlike some other branded foods.  It’s natural for the acidity of the fruits we use to vary across the seasons, so to ‘re-balance’ this sometimes we may need to add a dash of organic lemon juice to these products.  This doesn’t affect the taste; it simply means that we can create healthy, safe and long lasting food for your little ones. Easy-peasy.