Plum Organics Baby Food Heavy Metal Content Class Action

Parents are particularly protective of their babies and young children. But a House of Representatives Subcommittee Report, released in February 2021, on heavy metals found in baby foods has raised alarm. This class action brings suit against Plum, PBC, alleging that its baby foods were found to contain concerning levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.

The class for this action is all persons in the US who bought one or more of the Plum products, intended for babies and young children, from the beginning of the applicable statutory period through the present. A Florida Subclass has also been defined, for those in that state.

Plum makes Plum Organics baby foods and makes claims for their health benefits. The complaint quotes it as saying on its website, “Little ones deserve the very best food from the very first bite.” It also quotes the website as saying, “As an organic food company, we strongly believe in the advantages organic food brings to our families and to Mother Nature. We know there’s a debate as to whether organic is more nutritious or safer than conventional, but when it comes to making products for your littlest ones, we believe the simpler the better.”

But the complaint alleges that Plum’s marketing includes misleading claims or omissions. It points to the report from the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, Committee on Oversight and Reform, which revealed heavy metal content in major brands of baby foods.

The complaint alleges, “[A]ccording to the Congressional Report, the [Food and Drug Administration (FDA)] has expressed concern regarding arsenic levels above 100 ppb in infant rice cereals, arsenic above 10 ppb in drinking water, lead above 5 ppb in drinking water, lead above 50 ppb in juice products, and cadmium above 5 ppb in drinking water.” However, it says, Plum’s products “routinely tested at levels exceeding these limits.”

Even worse, Plum did not provide the cooperation requested by the Subcommittee. The complaint quotes the report as saying that “The Subcommittee is greatly concerned that their lack of cooperation might be obscuring the presence of even higher levels of toxic heavy metals in their baby food products than [in] their competitors’ products.”

The Subcommittee refers to Campbell, Plum’s parent company, saying, “Campbell refused to produce its testing standards and specific testing results to the Subcommittee…. Instead of producing any substantive information, Campbell provided a spreadsheet self[-]declaring that every one of its products ‘meets criteria.’”

The company did not specify the criteria that the products supposedly met. However, the report notes that Campbell had no criterion for mercury at all. Still, the report says, Campbell had reported that each of its foods “meets criteria” for mercury.

The report says, “Campbell’s evasion is concerning, as even limited independent testing has revealed the presence of toxic heavy metals in its baby food.” The complaint alleges that additional testing by the plaintiff in this case also found heavy metals in the Plum baby foods.

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