A new type of ready-to-use food is changing the way severe malnutrition is treated. But questions remain about how far to push its introduction--and science has a hard time providing the answer.

The neonatal period is recognized as a brief, critical time that requires focused interventions to reach the Millennium Development Goal of a two-thirds reduction in child mortality by 2015. In India there are one million neonatal deaths every year, representing approximately a quarter of all global neonatal deaths.

The Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992 attempted to curb the efforts of baby food manufacturers to undermine breastfeeding and was further amended in 2003 to plug loopholes. However, public-private health partnerships are now found to be advocating nutrition policies aimed at helping food multinationals increase their markets. A stronger legislation is thus needed to fight this practice.