When parents buy baby foods, they expect that the makers will have taken care to make the foods healthy and safe. But a recent Congressional Subcommittee report has shown that a number of the most popular brands of baby foods contain heavy metals, such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. The complaint for this class action brings suit against one baby food company, Nurture, Inc., for heavy metals in its Happy Baby brand baby food.
The class for this action is all persons in the US who bought the products between the beginning of the applicable limitations period and the date the class is certified in this case. Texas and Indiana Subclasses have also been proposed for people in those states.
The report in question came from the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, Committee on Oversight and Reform. After hearing that certain baby foods contained heavy metals, it investigated products from the seven largest baby food manufacturers in the country, including Nurture. It found significant levels of heavy metals in samples for all of them.
Using a quotation from the report, the complaint says, “The Food and Drug Administration (‘FDA’) and the World Health Organization (‘WHO’) have declared the Heavy Metals to be ‘dangerous to human health, particularly to babies and children, who are most vulnerable to their neurotoxic effects. Even low levels of exposure can cause serious and often irreversible damage to brain development.’”
In the report, the complaint alleges, Nurture is the only manufacturer of the seven who regularly tests its finished products for inorganic arsenic levels. However, the complaint quotes the report as saying that the company “routinely sold products that exceeded its internal standards,” and “over 25% of the products that Nurture tested for inorganic arsenic, and sold, had inorganic arsenic levels above 100 ppb.”
An example of this is Nurture’s Apple & Broccoli Puffs, which the complaint claims the company sold even after they tested for inorganic arsenic at 180 ppb. The house report said that an “arsenic level of 180 ppb is high by all standards, but it is 80% higher than Nurture’s own internal goal threshold of 100 ppb.” Twenty-nine other Nurture products tested at above 100 ppb as well, but Nurture still sold them.
As to lead, the complaint alleges, “Of the 206 products tested by [Nurture], 16 registered over 20 ppb lead, 39 registered over 10 ppb lead, and it is unclear whether any of [Nurture’s] products registered at or below 1 ppb lead, which should be the upper limit according to health experts.”
Still, the company projects an image of healthy baby food using the words “superfood,” “organic,” and gluten free,” any by claiming that certain ingredients “support brain and eye health.”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Happy Baby’s Baby Food Contains Heavy Metals Complaint
April 12, 2021
When parents buy baby foods, they expect that the makers will have taken care to make the foods healthy and safe. But a recent Congressional Subcommittee report has shown that a number of the most popular brands of baby foods contain heavy metals, such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. The complaint for this class action brings suit against one baby food company, Nurture, Inc., for heavy metals in its Happy Baby brand baby food.
Happy Baby’s Baby Food Contains Heavy Metals ComplaintCase Event History
Happy Baby’s Baby Food Contains Heavy Metals Complaint
April 12, 2021
When parents buy baby foods, they expect that the makers will have taken care to make the foods healthy and safe. But a recent Congressional Subcommittee report has shown that a number of the most popular brands of baby foods contain heavy metals, such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. The complaint for this class action brings suit against one baby food company, Nurture, Inc., for heavy metals in its Happy Baby brand baby food.
Happy Baby’s Baby Food Contains Heavy Metals Complaint