California’s New Baby Food Law Requires Manufacturers to List Toxic Metals

Gerber baby food products on a supermarket shelf in New York City. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Baby food sold in California will provide parents with more transparent information about what’s inside the food, including the presence of heavy metals, starting Jan. 1.

Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi of Rolling Hills Estates authored Assembly Bill 899, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 10, 2023. The first-in-the-nation legislation requires manufacturers to test their products for toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury, and post the information on their websites starting in 2025.

“This new law will help protect babies,” Muratsuchi said in a press release after the bill became law. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should follow California’s lead in enacting similar national testing and reporting requirements.”

Baby-food companies selling products in the state will be required to post on their website the names and amounts of any heavy metals found in the food. Companies must include a quick response (QR) code or other machine-readable code on the packaging that links to the page containing test results.

Muratsuchi said that he hoped baby food manufacturers across the country would take more action to ensure their products were free of toxic heavy metals.

Tom Neltner, senior director for safer chemicals at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement in 2023 that the law addresses important safety concerns.

“This law fills two critical gaps in [the Food and Drug Administration’s] efforts to reduce children’s dietary exposure to cadmium, lead, mercury, and inorganic arsenic to as low as possible while maintaining access to nutritious foods,” Neltner said.

The FDA does not require final product testing or disclosure to consumers, according to Neltner.

The California law will be enforced by the state’s Department of Public Health, according to a bill analysis.

The state’s food labeling requirements typically adopt federal food labeling standards, but the state can add its own regulations.

All baby food manufacturers—in and out-of-state—must comply with the state’s labeling law if they sell the food in California.

The new California law is based on a September 2021 report by the U.S. House of Representatives detailing levels of heavy metals in baby food. The report concluded that some baby foods sold to consumers contained dangerous levels of toxic metals.

The FDA and the World Health Organization have declared inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury to be dangerous to human health, particularly to babies and children. Even low levels of exposure can cause serious and possibly irreversible damage to brain development, according to the House report.

The report was ordered after allegations surfaced in 2019 of high levels of toxic heavy metals in baby foods. A House subcommittee requested documents and test results from seven of the largest baby food manufacturers: Nurture, Beach-Nut Nutrition Company, Hain Celestial Group, Gerber, Campbell Soup Company, Walmart, and Sprout Foods.

Four of the companies responded and produced internal testing policies and test results.

Lead and cadmium were present in baby foods made by all responding companies, while mercury was found in baby food tested by Gerber, which was the only responding company that tested for it, according to the House report.

Walmart, Campbell Soup, and Sprout Foods refused to cooperate, according to a legislative report about the state bill.

Consumer Brands Association and the Department of Finance opposed California’s new law during the legislative process. The former argued the bill was premature, given the FDA’s ongoing process to determine action levels for lead in food.

The latter opposed the bill because it resulted in impacts to the state’s General Fund.