STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Numerous popular baby food brands have consistently under-reported dangerous levels of toxic metals found in their products and have continued to sell them, despite knowing the risks, according to a new House Oversight subcommittee report.
“My Subcommittee’s investigation has pulled back the curtain on the baby foods industry, and each revelation has been more damning than the last,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy. “Today’s report reveals that companies not only under-report the high levels of toxic content in their baby food, but also knowingly keep toxic products on the market.”
The new findings come following a February report that detailed dangerous levels of heavy metals -- like arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury -- found in popular baby food products.
High concentrations of these heavy metals have been found to have serious detrimental effects on a child’s development.
“Exposure to toxic heavy metals causes permanent decreases in IQ, diminished future economic productivity, and increased risk of future criminal and antisocial behavior in children. Toxic heavy metals endanger infant neurological development and long-term brain function,” according to the report.
The February report, commissioned in response to a 2019 study that found heavy metals in 95% of popular U.S. baby food products, analyzed internal documents and test results from some of the country’s largest baby food manufacturers to determine whether unsafe levels of these heavy metals were, in fact, present in their products.
In reviewing documents from Nurture, Beech-Nut, Hain and Gerber, researchers determined that various baby food products far exceeded the maximum allowances for these heavy metals.
“The Food and Drug Administration [FDA] has set the maximum allowable levels in bottled water at 10 parts-per-billion (ppb) inorganic arsenic, 5 ppb lead, and 5 ppb cadmium, and the Environmental Protection Agency has capped the allowable level of mercury in drinking water at 2 ppb,” according to the report.
“The test results of baby foods and their ingredients eclipse those levels -- including results up to 91 times the arsenic level, up to 177 times the lead level, up to 69 times the cadmium level, and up to 5 times the mercury level,” the report continued.
The most recent report found that many of these baby food companies have done little to address these issues, despite repeated warnings.
“The facts speak for themselves, and the fact of the matter is that the baby food industry has consistently cut corners and put profit over the health of babies and children,” Krishnamoorthi said.
The report found that Plum Organics sold baby food products with up to 225 ppb inorganic arsenic, far exceeding the maximum allowance. Additionally, the majority of its baby food products exceeded the 5 ppb limit for lead and approximately 40% exceeded the maximum allowance for cadmium, according to the data.
Walmart was found to have increased its limit for inorganic arsenic in its baby food products, more than quadrupling the maximum allowed amount from 23 ppb to 100 ppb in 2018 with no justification, according to the report.
Additionally, multiple companies were found to have had insufficient responses to high levels of toxic metals found in their products.
After state testing in Alaska uncovered more than 100 ppb inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereals produced by Beech-Nuts and Gerber, the companies failed to issue sufficient recalls, the report stated.
Beech-Nut was found to have only pulled two of the six contaminated products from store shelves, while Gerber issued no recall on their two products and failed to alert the public, according to the study.
The report also noted that various companies, like Beech-Nuts and Sprout, only tested their ingredients for toxic metals, but not their finished products.
Included in the report were several recommendations from the Oversight Committee, including: urging the FDA to publish final limits for the permissible amount of toxic heavy metals in baby foods; requiring companies to test their finished products in addition to their ingredients; encouraging companies to voluntarily phase out products that have repeatedly been shown to contain high levels of these toxic metals.
“Based on my Subcommittee’s findings, I’m urgently calling on the baby food industry to immediately end harmful practices and conduct finished-product testing. We have been working closely with FDA on regulations, and this report highlights the need for the agency to accelerate its proposed timeline for publishing them,” Krishnamoorthi said.
FINDINGS FROM FEBRUARY REPORT
Findings in the February report include:
Arsenic
-- All four responding companies were found to have sold baby food products with concentrations well above the FDA’s maximum allowance of 10 ppb.
-- Nurture, manufacturer of the brand HappyBABY, regularly sold products with 60 ppb inorganic arsenic, six times the maximum allowance. In some cases, products contained as much as 180 ppb arsenic.
-- Gerber was found to use ingredients, such as rice flour, that tested as high as 90 ppb arsenic.
-- Hain, manufacturer of the brand Earth’s Best Organic, was found to have sold finished products with arsenic levels as high as 129 ppb, while using ingredients that tested as high as 309 ppb.
-- Beech-Nut was found to be the most egregious offender in regards to arsenic, with some ingredients testing as high as 913.4 ppb arsenic, more than 91x the maximum allowance.
Lead
-- All four companies were found to have used ingredients exceeding the FDA’s maximum allowance of 5 ppb.
-- Gerber was found to use multiple ingredients exceeding 20 ppb lead, with some reaching up to 48 ppb.
-- Nearly 20% of all Nurture products contained over 10 ppb lead, more than twice the limit, with some testing as high as 641 ppb.
-- Hain was found to have used 88 different ingredients that exceeded 20 ppb lead, with some showing concentrations as high as 352 ppb.
-- Beech-Nut was found to be the greatest offender, using hundreds of ingredients that exceeded the maximum allowance, in some cases reaching as high as 886.9 ppb lead, approximately 177x the maximum allowance.
Cadmium
-- All four companies were found to be selling finished products exceeding the FDA’s maximum allowance of 5 ppb.
-- Researchers found that 65% of Nurture’s finished baby food products exceeded the maximum cadmium allowance.
-- For Gerber, 75% of carrots sold by the company were found to exceed the 5 ppb cadmium limit, with some showing concentrations as high as 87 ppb.
-- However, Hain and Beech-Nut were found to be the main culprits, each using over 100 ingredients that exceeded 20 ppb cadmium, more than four times the limit.
-- For Hain, some ingredients tested as high as 260 ppb cadmium, while Beech-Nut saw results as high as 344.55 ppb.
Mercury
-- The heavy metal mercury was detected in the only company that actually tested for it, according to the report.
-- Nurture was found to have sold baby products with mercury levels exceeding 10 ppb, more than five times the maximum allowance.
-- Beech-Nut and Hain don’t even test for mercury in their products, and Gerber tested for the metal too infrequently to provide meaningful data.
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