2.2 min. read
For years, no less an authority than Consumer Reports (CR) has been warning both consumers and manufacturers that many baby and toddler foods contain detectable levels of heavy metals. But the same alarming results show up every time CR retests…
The State of Texas is suing Gerber – the iconic baby food maker – over persistent high heavy metal levels in its products. State Attorney General Ken Paxton is also fighting for a US Senate seat in the looming mid term elections…
Two-front war?
There is an old military maxim, that you can’t fight a war on two fronts at the same time. Lucky for Paxton, he doesn’t have to command the fight against gerber in the field. He has people for that. But he’s been fighting hard for that Senate seat. Should he go to the Senate, others will carry on the fight.
The suit
But for the present, Paxton is the face and frontman of the $10 million damages claim against Gerber. The suit alleges baby food giant Gerber deceived consumers by knowingly selling products with dan-gerous levels of arsenic and lead between 2017 and 2019. Paxton is is claiming that violated the state consumer protection law.
A 2021 congressional investigation confirmed ‘high’ levels of heavy metals in baby food. As a result, the FDA launched an industry-wide ‘Closer to Zero’ initiative to reduce childhood exposure to toxins in food by setting limits on arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead.
“Gerber promised parents its food was safe and rigorously tested. Its own tests showed toxic metals in the food,” Paxton said in a statement. “When a company makes promises about what parents feed their babies, I will hold it accountable to ensure those promises are kept.”
Gerber fights back
Gerber, a Nestlé company, told Food Dive: “the brand’s baby food meets FDA limits for heavy metals and every product is tested for more than 500 toxins and contaminants. The brand added it has long been committed to reducing levels of heavy metals, which cannot be completely eliminated from the food supply.”
The company claims that it maintains ‘rigorous internal standards’, and remains, “the most recom-mended baby and toddler food brand by pediatricians in the US.” Specifically, it reduces heavy metals through, “careful ingredient sourcing, supplier requirements, testing and quality controls.”
Most recent tests
The most recent authoritative heavy metals testing on infant and toddler foods took place just last year. Consumer Reports (CR) regularly tests a wide range of such products, following an initial survey several years ago that produced alarming results.
Lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury are found naturally in the soil, and can leach into the fruits, vegetables and grains used to make baby food. However, heavy metals can also be introduced into all kinds of foods by farming or manufacturing processes. In that context, it’s important to remember that infant and toddler foods are among the most processed of food products – arch UPFs.
My take
I am compelled to observe that Paxton seems to take an over-simplistic view of the heavy metals situation. Natural ingredients which are grown in the ground are bound to have some traces of bad stuff in them. But government agencies have worked for decades to determine safe levels of thous-ands of toxic materials that may be present in foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. And nowhere in the Texas lawsuit does it claim Gerber has exceeded those limits…
~ Maggie J.