Nowadays, parents are more focused on infant nutrition, and working women highly prefer baby food products. The growing need for nutrients and energy for babies’ growth is boosting the consumption of baby food. Increasing chances of food-borne illnesses pushing parents to look after their infant’s health. As per a report by Fortune Business Insights™, the market for baby food reached USD 97.31 billion in 2022 and is set to reach USD 161.16 billion in 2030.

With its existence in around 190 countries, Nestlé S.A. is one of the top baby food brands, reigns supreme in the global market. A variety of products under different brands, including Gerber, Nature Nes, Cerelac, and NIDO, are offered by the company. It focuses on supplying better nutrition and promoting healthy eating habits among babies. The business is constantly producing high-quality food items for babies of various age groups. A food producer situated in Switzerland, Hero Group has more than 135 years of experience creating infant food and other food and nutrition products. By offering new products and acquisitions with other related baby food brands/companies, the business has increased its product portfolio. The portfolio comprises formula milk, snacks, and other items.

Globally, Danone S.A. is one of the top healthy food product suppliers. It has some essential product categories, such as Early Life Nutrition and Medical Nutrition Products, Essential Dairy and Plant-Based Products, Waters, and others. Baby formula products are specially made to fulfill the nutritional needs of babies. By offering new products, the company is expected to increase its sales and market presence in new markets in the coming years. The U.S.-based top medical device and health and nutrition product producer, Abbott Nutrition, offers products to assist patient growth, recovery, and sustainability. With the brand name Similac, it produces and distributes its baby food products. Regular feeding and customized nutrition are encouraged by formula milk products produced under this brand. The company emphasizes offering high-quality products to consumers.

When parents first heard the news that many major baby food brands contain dangerous amounts of toxic heavy metals, most believed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would step in to better protect children from arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Studies show that exposure to these toxic heavy metals during early childhood can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The FDA reacted to the 2021 baby food report on heavy metals by creating the Closer to Zero campaign, which aims to limit the amounts of toxic metals in baby foods over time. The problem? The plan gradually phases out heavy metals from baby food by 2024. Some experts have predicted it may take even longer than the proposed 2024 date to make significant changes to industry practices. Commercially produced baby foods contain heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead are present in baby foods and pose a danger to infant health. A Consumer Reports study found that many popular baby food brands, including Beechnut Naturals, Gerber, and Baby Mum-Mum, contain high levels of heavy metals.

How did heavy metals get into baby food?

The low levels of heavy metals found in baby foods likely are a relatively small part of a child’s overall toxic metal exposure risk. However, exposure from all sources should be minimized. Toxic metal exposure can be harmful to the developing brain. It’s been linked with problems with learning, cognition and behavior. But keep in mind that many genetic, social, and environment factors influence healthy brain development, and toxic metal exposure is just one of these factors.

Exposure to arsenic may cause harm to children’s central nervous system and neurodevelopment; specifically, children may experience poor motor skills, impacted verbal capabilities, and weaker memory. Consumption of arsenic is linked to higher risk of bronchiectasis, impaired liver function, cognitive deficits, skin conditions, and skin cancer. Lead has also been linked to cognitive deficits, and a prospective study has shown that cognitive impairment due to lead may persist from childhood into adulthood. Lead exposure may also cause stunted growth, delayed development and puberty, and behavioral issues. Cadmium has been found to lead to lower IQ scores and higher prevalence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Metals are found naturally in the Earth’s crust. They also are released into our environment as pollution and get into the water and soil used to grow food. Metals can also get into food from food manufacturing and packaging. Some of the most common metals that get into food, according to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), include inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury.

Heavy metals can contaminate food products at many steps of the food production process. Some heavy metals are introduced through fertilizers and insecticides, while other heavy metals occur naturally in soil and are absorbed by plants. Runoff from roads, factories, and dumping grounds can also pollute water sources used for crops. In addition to the agricultural process, heavy metals can be introduced into food products through fortified vitamins and minerals that are added during the manufacturing process.

Birth through age 5 is a period of more significant and more rapid brain and biological development than any other time in the human lifespan. During this period, children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental toxins that may detrimentally shape their development. Decades of research have shown that no amount of heavy metal in consumables marketed toward infants and children is considered safe.

Stronger rules and regulations for testing and limiting the amount of heavy metals in foods for babies and toddlers are most important. But there are several steps parents can take now to reduce the risk that kids will be exposed to toxic metals in their diet, and from other sources:

• Serve a variety of foods. Give your child a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of fruits, vegetables (wash in cool water before preparing and serving), grains and lean protein. Eating a variety of healthy foods that are rich in essential nutrients can lower the exposure to toxic metals and other contaminants found in some foods.
• Read the labels. Multi-ingredient baby food blends may be a good option. Be aware that many have the same first or second ingredient, though. Different flavor blends, like kale/pear and spinach/pumpkin, for example, may actually both have sweet potatoes as their first ingredient. It’s important to read the ingredients label to be sure you are offering a true variety of foods.
• Switch up your grains. Fortified infant cereals can be a good source of nutrition for babies, but rice cereal does not need to be the first or only cereal used. Rice tends to absorb more arsenic from groundwater than other crops. You can include a variety of grains in your baby’s diet, including oat, barley, couscous, quinoa, farro, and bulgur. Multi-grain infant cereals can be a good choice. Try to avoid using rice milk and brown rice syrup, which is sometimes used as a sweetener in processed toddler foods.
• Check your water. Heavy metals can get into tap water: for example, arsenic can contaminate well water, and older pipes may contain lead. You can contact your local health department to have your water tested if this is a concern.
• Avoid fruit juice. Offer toddlers and young children sliced or pureed whole fruits rather than juice. Some fruit juices can contain concerning levels of heavy metals. Plus, juice is high in sugar and not as nutrient rich as whole fruit. Stick with breast milk or formula for babies under 6 months old, and water and milk after they reach age 1.
• Make healthy fish choices. Some types of fish can be high in a form of mercury called methylmercury, and other metals. Of most concern are large, predatory fish that eat other fish and live longer, such as shark, orange roughy, swordfish, and albacore/white tuna. Eating too much contaminated fish can harm a child’s developing nervous system. But fish is also an excellent source of protein and other nutrients children need, and many are low in mercury. Look for better options like light tuna (solid or chunk), salmon, cod, whitefish and pollock.

Can we blame the food manufacturers?

In 2021, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy published a report identifying high levels of lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium in baby food manufactured by certain manufacturers. The report provides that the identified companies knowingly sold – and continue to sell – products tainted with heavy metals including: 

• Beech-Nut
• Gerber
• Hain Celestial Group – Earth’s Best Organic
• Nurture – Happy Family Organics and Happy BABY
• Plum Organics
• Sprout Foods – Sprout Organic Food
• Walmart – Parent’s Choice 

A congressional investigation by the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy Committee on Oversight and Reform found trace amounts of arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury in four major baby food manufacturers. All four of these chemicals are poisonous, meaning they are detrimental to a child’s long-term health and can even be lethal enough to kill. According to Medical News Today, over 400,000 deaths a year can be attributed to lead. The investigation highlights Nurture, Beech-Nut and Hain industries as chief sites for alarming levels of toxic chemicals in food. Each one of those companies had a trace amount of heavy metals multiples higher than allowed under existing regulations for other products.

But it is not by pure accident that companies have such high levels of toxic chemicals in their products. All four companies have internal standards and do internal testing before selling their products. For example, Beech-Nut’s internal limit for lead is 5,000 PPB, while the scientific community recommends the limit be set at 1 PPB. To make matters worse, the companies’ standards already permit dangerously high levels of toxic heavy metals, and documents revealed that the manufacturers have often sold foods that exceeded those levels. Specifically, the companies sold products with 91 times the legal arsenic level, up to 177 times the lead level, up to 69 times the cadmium level, and up to 5 times the mercury level.

First, manufacturers are not required by the FDA to test their finished products for toxic heavy metals, in addition to ingredient testing. This allows the baby food companies to cut corners during the manufacturing process without getting caught. As a result of cutting corners, the levels of inorganic arsenic were between 28-93% higher in the finished product than when the ingredients were tested separately. Second, the FDA does not have maximum levels of toxic heavy metal permitted in baby foods. Third, according to the same report, manufacturers are not required by the FDA to report levels of toxic heavy metals on food labels.

Is organic or European baby food safer?

Parents who feed their children organic foods want to be assured they’re making the healthier, safer choice. But a report released by Consumer Reports said that organic foods are no safer than conventional baby and toddler foods when it comes to heavy metals. Among the metals found in some of the more popular baby food products are arsenic, cadmium and lead.

Organic baby and toddler foods have benefits. Babies are ingesting fewer pesticides. Because of this, it naturally follows that organically grown foods have less of an impact on the environment, according to the new report. But avoiding heavy metals, which, when consumed regularly, have been known to pose certain health problems in children, is not one of them, the study says.

To protect babies against exposure to food contaminants, the EU limits the level of these substances in commercial baby foods. These limits are much stricter than the limits set for general foods. To comply with these strict maximum levels, baby food manufacturers must carefully select their raw ingredients and carry out strict controls. Environmental contaminants like toxins and heavy metals can occur in food naturally, while process contaminants can appear during the manufacturing process. To avoid any risks for consumers, the EU has adopted strict maximum levels for many contaminants. The levels applying to commercial baby foods are particularly low and have consequences in terms of agricultural practices, sourcing of ingredients and manufacturing processes.

Babies need more than a balanced diet to be healthy: they also need food which is specifically manufactured to take into account their vulnerability and to avoid or limit contamination by hazardous substances. The EU has adopted specific rules to limit these substances in baby foods, resulting in commercial baby foods being among the safest foods on the market. Food safety is of paramount importance for baby food manufacturers. Compliance with these strict rules is ensured
through strict controls in ingredients, manufacturing processes and packaging designs. Being a leader in food research and innovation enables the baby food industry to provide the safest possible food.

The EU has adopted new limits on the amount of arsenic permitted in certain food items, including infant formula. The European Commission said lower maximum levels (MLs) are being adopted as part of its “Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan”, which aims to limit or eliminate carcinogenic risk from chemicals in food in EU member states. The new measures will reduce the allowed concentration of inorganic arsenic in white rice and set new limits for arsenic in everyday rice-based food items such as infant formula and baby foods, as well as fruit juices and salt. The previous maximum levels for arsenic in food products were established in 2015 based on a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) opinion that stated that inorganic arsenic may cause cancer of the skin, bladder, and lungs. The new rules are based on a 2021 scientific report from EFSA.

How to recognize heavy metal toxicity in small children?

Research shows that children absorb food better than adults do, so even small amounts of heavy metals can cause damage. In extreme cases, increased heavy metal exposure influences child development.

Furthermore, some foods, vitamins and supplements, certain medications, and work/play environments often contain heavy metals. Heavy metal can also find its way into food and drink from some containers and from the soil. Children can be exposed while playing in contaminated soil. Additionally, we can absorb heavy metals through our skin and by breathing certain air particles.

In a recent study of imported rice grains, researchers found that grains from 11 countries available in Kuwaiti markets contained high amounts of heavy metals. Imported rice contained arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. The rice samples contained the highest geometric means, which means that heavy metal content was higher than average.

Firstly, the most common heavy metals that people are exposed to are lead, arsenic, and mercury. Lead exists in urban areas, soil, old water pipes, and some old paints. Lead contamination is common in homes built before 1978. If you live in an older home, check for peeling paint or damage on your walls. You may need someone to come inspect the paint and test for lead.

Furthermore, the CDC recommends that children be tested for lead exposure at the 1-year and 2-year visits. We can test for heavy metal poisoning with blood and urine testing, hair and tissue analysis, or x-rays. Wood products and well water contain arsenic. And contaminated fish contain mercury. Symptoms of heavy metal poisoning include:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Stomach pain
• Headache
• Sweating
• Metallic taste in the mouth
• Blue or black lines in gums
• Cognitive impairment and/or confusion
• Problems with language
• Motor impairment

You need to be proactive in ensuring your baby’s safety and well-being. Here are some actions you can take to minimize the risks of heavy metal contamination in baby food:

• Be Informed: Stay informed about recalls and advisories related to baby food products. Regularly check updates from reputable sources, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or consumer advocacy groups, for any concerning information regarding heavy metal contamination in baby food.
• Diversify Your Baby’s Diet: Limit the consumption of rice-based products and opt for a diverse diet for your baby. Incorporate a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins to reduce the risk of excessive exposure to any one type of heavy metal.
• Choose Trusted Brands: Research and choose baby food brands that prioritize safety and quality control measures. Look for brands that conduct rigorous testing for heavy metals and provide transparency regarding their sourcing and manufacturing processes.
• Consult a Pediatrician: If you have concerns about heavy metal exposure in your baby’s diet or suspect any adverse health effects, consult a pediatrician. They can guide safe feeding practices and may recommend testing for heavy metal levels if necessary.