Updating on the lysinoalanine content of commercial infant formulae and beicost products

Since the safety issue of lysinoalanine (LAL) still remains unresolved, its concentration in infant formulae should be reduced to a minimum. Data collected in the 1980s indicated that LAL is formed in higher amounts in liquid than in powdered formulae. Recently the market of liquid infant formulae is increasing rapidly and there are no new data, so 23 commercial powdered or liquid samples were investigated. In powdered samples, LAL was below the detection limit, whereas liquid adapted formulae contained up to 86 mug/g protein, liquid follow-on formulae up to 390 mug/g protein, and liquid growing milks up to 514 mug/g protein. The concentration of LAL in liquid formulae is considerably lower than in the past; however, the level in a few products remains rather high, especially compared with normal UHT-treated milk. Great differences were observed among products of different companies, which suggests that labelling with the thermal treatment applied would be very advisable. The investigation of some beicost products indicates that LAL is present only in products certainly containing milk proteins. Considering the rather low levels in comparison with liquid infant formulae, the contribution of beicost products to the total LAL daily intake does not seem to be particularly relevant. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.