Lead and other toxic heavy metals have been found in dangerously elevated amounts in some commercial baby foods sold in the United States, yet parents have had no way to know if the baby foods they purchase contain those higher levels.
Enter a California law that requires baby food manufacturers to use an accredited lab to test representative samples of any infant and toddler food (excluding infant formula) at least once a month for levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury.
As of January 1, baby food manufacturers must provide those test results to the public on their websites. Anyone can access those results by scanning a QR code on the baby food label with their smartphones.
The new law applies only to sales of baby food in California, but major manufacturers -including market leaders Gerber and Beech-Nut – tell CNN they are rolling out QR codes on baby and toddler foods nationwide.
“This is a transparency law, and in the court of public opinion, transparency is where you breed accountability,” said Jaclyn Bowen, executive director of the Clean Label Project, a nonprofit dedicated to transparent food labeling.