Gerber Baby Foods Contain Significant Levels of Heavy Metals Class Action

This class action alleges that Gerber Products Company offers baby foods that contain heavy metals. The complaint cites a February 4, 2021 report issued by a House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, Committee on Oversight and Reform that reported that baby foods from some of the largest US manufacturers are “tainted with significant levels of toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.”

The class for this action is all persons who bought Gerber’s baby food products containing heavy metals, in the US, for personal or household use, between the beginning of any applicable limitations period through the date of class certification. Subclasses have also been proposed for Connecticut and Missouri, for those living in those states.

Baby food manufacturers have been allowed to set their own safety standards for heavy metals in their baby foods. The complaint alleges, “They have set those standards at dangerously high levels and have often sold foods that exceed even those levels.”

A previous report about this problem was published in October 2019 by an alliance of nonprofit groups called Happy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF). The complaint claims, “The HBBF Report found that 95% of the 168 baby food products tested were contaminated with one or more toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium, and/or mercury… All but 9 products contained at least one metal, and 26% of the baby foods tested contained all four of the Heavy Metals.”

The four metals cited are neurotoxins. They can cause serious harm, particularly in babies and children. The complaint quotes the HBBF report as saying they can “diminish quality of life, reduce academic achievement, and disturb behavior, with profound consequences for the welfare and productivity of entire societies.” Even trace amounts can have negative effects.

The House Subcommittee’s investigation grew out of the HBBF investigation’s findings. It requested documents from seven of the largest baby food makers, including Gerber.

Gerber provided the Subcommittee with their internal testing policies, test results for ingredients or finished products, and documentation of what they did with ingredients or finished products that exceeded their internals limits for heavy metals.

The complaint alleges, “According to internal company documents and test results, and testing conducted by third[-]parties, the commercial baby foods manufactured by all seven companies were tainted with significant levels of Heavy Metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.”

This class action was originally filed on May 21, 2021, with four different baby food manufacturers as defendants (Case no. 2:21-cv-02887-JS-AYS). Many similar cases were filed at the time, and in June of that year, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation declined to combine cases with differing defendants. The plaintiffs agreed to dismiss the original case.

In September 2021, this case was permitted to be added to a combined case on heavy metals in Gerber baby foods. The case was refiled with this new complaint in the Eastern District Virginia.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Contaminated with Harmful Substances, Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels, Food Contamination, Heavy Metals