Some Popular Baby Foods May Contain Toxic Heavy Metals

Parents will want to double check what they're feeding their babies.

A new report by the United States Oversight subcommittee released on Thursday (February 4) reveals some popular baby foods contain "significant" levels of toxic heavy metals, which could harm their babies' neurological development.

According to the report, baby food products found to contain lead, cadmium and arsenic included the brands Beech-Nut, Earth's Best Organic, Happy Family Organics and Gerber.

Happy Family Organics products were also found to have mercury.

"These results are multiples higher than allowed under existing regulations for other products," the report stated. "Internal company standards permit dangerously high levels of toxic heavy metals, and documents revealed that the manufacturers have often sold foods that exceeded those levels."

Congressional investigators requested test results and internal company documents from seven of the United States' largest baby food manufacturers in November 2019 after reports of high levels of toxic heavy metals being found in baby foods.

That request was met by Nuture Inc., which produces Happy Family Organics; Hain Celestial Group Inc, which produces Earth's Best Organic; Beech-Nut Nutrition Company and Gerber, which is a unit of Nestle.

"To this day, baby foods containing toxic heavy metals bear no label or warning to parents," investigators stated in the report. "Manufacturers are free to test only ingredients, or, for the vast majority of baby foods, to conduct no testing at all."

The report also states Walmart inc., Campbell Soup Co., and Sprout Organic Foods "refused to cooperate with the investigation."

Walmart senior director of national media relations told ABC News the company responded to the inquiry in a letter last year and instead offered to work with the committee and explain the certification requirements for the company's private label manufacturers, but claims Walmart "never received any additional inquiries" from Congressional investigators.

Campbell Soup Co. released a statement disputing the findings of the report which claimed, "our testing showed each product was well within levels deemed acceptable by independent authorities."

Sprout Organic Food did not respond to ABC News' request for comment in relation to the report's accusations that it refused to cooperate.

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content