Class-action lawsuits have been filed against at least five processors of baby food in the wake of a congressional report that bashes them for the amount of heavy metals in their products.
Campbell Soup, Nurture Inc., Hain Celestial, Gerber and Beech-Nut have all been named in defendants in lawsuits filed in federal court in New York and New Jersey. The suits seek to name, as a class, everyone who has bought baby food from the defendants that had high levels of lead, cadmium, arsenic or other potentially toxic heavy metals.
The litigation comes after a congressional committee issued a report detailing high levels of heavy metals in baby food. The FDA does not set limits for those applications, except for arsenic in products made with rice or rice flour, which is supposed to be capped at 100 parts per billion – a level that Hain’s products exceeded.
The lawsuits basically allege that the defendants marketed their products as healthy for babies and toddlers, in some cases trumpeting their freedom from allegedly harmful substances like bioengineered ingredients, while concealing the presence of heavy metals.
Companies named in the lawsuits told Bloomberg Law that their products are wholesome and they intend to defend the lawsuit “vigorously.”
