Beech-Nut went organic six years ago, and they make some nutritious blends that contain just mixed fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, the 2021 Congressional Report revealed that Beech-Nut continued to use ingredients after internal testing found them to have very high levels of a variety of heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, and cadmium.
Earth’s Best‘s parent company, Hain, was called out in the 2021 Congressional Report for setting its own dangerously high heavy metal internal standards, and then routinely accepting ingredients that surpassed these standards. In addition, even their simplest flavors (pears, for instance) are fortified with all sorts of stuff, including zinc sulfate, and citric acid.
HappyBABY, under the parent company Nuture, makes pouches that contain nutritious blends of vegetables and grains, and high quality proteins like wild Alaskan salmon. I would like to give them credit for testing for mercury, but the 2021 Congressional Report revealed that their test data shows finished food products with as much as 10 ppb of this neurotoxic (the recommendation is that it should not exceed 5 ppb). Nuture is also called out in the report for claiming that they used a standard of 50 ppb for lead, and then later submitting test documents showing that their standard was actually of 100 ppb.
Noka isn’t marketed for babies, but a lot of you asked about this brand. Noka is organic and I love that their pouches are hearty with things like nut butters included. Unfortunately, Noka pouches contain non-whole-food ingredients, like brown rice protein, natural flavors, and sunflower lecithin.
Plum Organics refused to comply when asked to submit heavy metal testing data to the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy in 2019, which makes them default Sneaky Stuff. Plum claims that they “responded quickly to their questions and never refused anything requested of us.” Also, it’s a little sneaky that the “grains” in these blends are actually grain flours (i.e., millet flour, oat flour, etc.) Some of Plum’s other toddler snacks contain sugar. (Note that Plum is owned by Campbell.)
Parent’s Choice is another brand that didn’t cooperate with the investigation into heavy metals in 2019. A 2021 lawsuit claims that “The Subcommittee found [Parent’s Choice’s] lack of transparency greatly concerning, fearing that they might be obscuring the presence of higher levels of toxic heavy metals in their baby food products than their competitors’ products.”
Sprout Foods faces a class suit in the state of California, USA, for “negligent, reckless, and/or intentional practice of misrepresenting and failing to fully disclose the presence of dangerous substances in its baby foods.”
61 comments
Maia James
Yes! I recently noticed that they’ve gone organic:). Will update when we revise this Guide!
Amy
GoGo Squeez does have USDA Organic applesauce and organic fruit/veggie pouches and they are BPA Free. Just wanted to let you know.
Maia James
I know, this is really annoying, isn’t it?! Some of us here at Gimme the Good Stuff do use a Vitamix. Just keep hot stuff out of it, and transfer it to glass quickly!
Irene
I’ve read a lot of your blog posts now about avoiding plastics #3, 6 and 7. I recently purchased a Vitamix thinking, “Yay, great way to get organic greens into my very picky toddler’s diet and wean him off those pouches!” However, while Vitamix claims the pitcher is BPA free, I recently looked inside the pitcher to see a #7 stamped inside. Angry face. So now what do I do? Ditch the Vitamix or don’t make green smoothies every other day? Stick with a glass low power blender?
Michelle
My son loved the pouches, starting at around 9 months when he became interested in foods other than breastmilk, I think also because of the sucking factor, but they almost all contain either lemon juice or ascorbic acid as a preservative and we knew ascorbic acid was a reflux aggravator, but also lemon juice upset his stomach as well. I stopped giving him the pouches by 1year, because they seemed to be compounding his stomach/reflux issues which we had worked so hard to reduce. They are convenient, but like most snack foods, I don’t think they are particularly good to be eating on a regular basis, even if they are organic, etc. And fyi, 90% of the ascorbic acid that is produced is made in china and made by synthesizing it from sugar. Any pouches that contain ascorbic acid should be avoided, even if they are organic.