At Beech-Nut, we’ve been making delicious, nutritious baby food for over 75 years. Find out other key dates in baby nutrition.

1867		Nestlé develops the first commercial infant formula.
1930		Gerber introduces the first commercial line of baby food.
1931		Beech-Nut introduces the first baby food sold in glass jars, rather than lead-soldered metal cans, using a patented vacuum seal.
1941		Cheerioats, which was to become a classic infant finger food, is introduced (renamed Cheerios in 1946).
1946		Dr. Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (later Baby and Child Care) is published.
1977		Beech-Nut becomes the first company to remove added salt from their entire infant product line.
1980		Congress passes the Infant Formula Act to set nutritional requirements for all U.S. infant formulas.
1984		Beech-Nut introduces the Stages® baby food system to guide and simplify consumer choices, revolutionizing the way the industry addresses the feeding cycle.
1985		Chemically modified starch is removed from all Beech-Nut products. The first book in a series of What to Expect parenting guides is published.
1990		Beech-Nut removes added refined sugar from every non-dessert baby food. Beech-Nut introduces new consumer-oriented packaging emphasizing a quality/nutrition checklist and Stages brand identification.
1994		The Food and Agriculture Organization and The World Health Organization (WHO) joint Expert Committee recommends that infant formulas include DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) at levels found in human breast milk. Europe adds DHA to infant formulas.
1997		Beech-Nut removes added refined sugar from all desserts and Table Time® toddler meals making all Beech-Nut products free of refined sugar.
2001		The FDA completes a favorable review of Martek's Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notification regarding the use of its DHA and ARA oil blend in infant formula.
2002		Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories announces plan to launch infant formulas supplemented with DHA and ARA in the United States. Beech-Nut becomes the first baby food manufacturer to develop and market a line of baby food with two fatty acids naturally found in breast milk, DHA and ARA.
2007		Beech-Nut introduces Good Morning and Good Evening, baby foods designed with soluble fiber, whey protein and prebiotics