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Ingredients › Palm oil

Baby food · 0–36 months

Is palm oil safe for babies?

Palm oil in baby food and formula

Palm oil — often listed as palmolein or “edible vegetable oil (palm)” — is one of the most common fats in Indian biscuits, cereals and snacks, and in many infant formulas. Pikabee does not flag palm oil at any age.

What Pikabee flags, by age

0–6 monthsAny food: RED

Any food other than breast milk or infant formula is flagged at this age, because WHO advises only breast milk for the first 6 months. Palm oil itself is not flagged, and in an infant formula it is not a finding.

6–12 monthsNot flagged

Not flagged. Pikabee judges the rest of the label as usual.

12–36 monthsNot flagged

Not flagged.

What it is

Palm oil is pressed from the fruit of the oil palm. It is semi-solid at room temperature, cheap and keeps well, which is why it is used so widely in packaged food. In infant formula it is one of the vegetable fats used to match the fat in breast milk.

Refining any vegetable oil at high heat can form traces of process contaminants (glycidyl esters and 3-MCPD esters). The EU sets maximum levels for these in infant formula and baby food, and formula makers have to meet them.

Names it goes by on labels

Why Pikabee doesn't flag it

Pikabee raises a flag only when a guideline it cites says an ingredient is a concern at this age. No infant-feeding guideline it follows restricts palm oil as an ingredient. The process contaminants that refining can form are controlled separately: the EU sets maximum levels for them in infant formula and baby food.

Questions parents ask

Is palm oil safe for a baby under 6 months?

Any food other than breast milk or infant formula is flagged at this age, because WHO advises only breast milk for the first 6 months. Palm oil itself is not flagged, and in an infant formula it is not a finding.

Is palm oil safe for a 6 to 12 month old baby?

Not flagged. Pikabee judges the rest of the label as usual. Pikabee raises a flag only when a guideline it cites says an ingredient is a concern at this age.

Is palm oil safe for a 1 to 3 year old?

Not flagged. Pikabee raises a flag only when a guideline it cites says an ingredient is a concern at this age.

Is palm oil bad in baby formula?

Pikabee does not flag palm oil in formula or in food. The EU sets maximum levels for the refining contaminants that any refined oil can carry, and infant formula has to meet them.

Why do so many baby biscuits use palm oil?

It is cheap, keeps well and gives biscuits a crisp texture. Pikabee judges the rest of the label — sugar, salt, colours — which matters more on most biscuits.

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Sources

  1. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 on maximum levels for certain contaminants in food (glycidyl fatty acid esters and 3-MCPD in infant formula and baby food).
  2. Codex Alimentarius CXS 72-1981. Standard for infant formula and formulas for special medical purposes intended for infants.
  3. WHO. Infant and young child feeding (fact sheet): only breast milk for the first 6 months.

Last reviewed 6 November 2026.

Related ingredients

Talk to your pediatrician about anything concerning.