Ensuring Safe Food for Infants: The Importance of an Integrated Approach to Monitor and Reduce the Risks of Biological, Chemical, and Physical Hazards

Despite a decrease in biological, chemical, and physical hazards in infant food owing to national and international control programs, the risks of hazards in infant food remain a global concern. Raising consumer awareness on the consequences of unhealthy food consumption, and a growth of consciousness by the food industry of the importance of ensuring protection against contaminants in commercially available products, have limited the risk of food contaminants. However, interventions applied across the food supply chain to inspect the presence of food contaminants and help to ensure a sustainable supply of nutritious safe food, are insufficient to provide an extensive and comprehensive protection.Infant food safety in the economically advanced Western world is currently monitored by increasingly strict legal regulations; however, some countries still use banned substances in industrial food production owing to their poor economy and insufficient regulation.The export and import exchange of commercial, often low-cost, infant food products, may raise serious risks for children's health despite the presence of standard control procedures and techniques, which may be insufficient or inadequate to detect a large variety of contaminants in food products. This commentary aims to increase awareness of the necessity to further decrease the risks of hazards of different nature in infants and children's food and to emphasize the importance of developing and constantly update integrated and effective systems for monitoring the presence of contaminants in infant food