As parents, ensuring the safety and well-being of our children is paramount, especially when it comes to their food. Concerns about heavy metals in baby food have understandably caused anxiety. At Beech-Nut, we recognize these concerns and want to assure you that the safety of our products is our top priority. Our commitment to quality and safety guides every decision we make, ensuring that we provide delicious, quality-tested baby and toddler foods you can trust.
Understanding Heavy Metals in Baby Food
Heavy metals, such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, are naturally present in the environment. They can be found in soil, water, and air, and consequently, in the crops grown for food, whether from organic backyard gardens or large-scale commercial farms. Plants absorb these metals in much the same way they absorb essential nutrients.
While some heavy metals, like iron and zinc, are vital for health, others can be harmful, especially during critical stages of brain development. According to the FDA, these harmful heavy metals have the “potential to cause harm during times of active brain development—in the womb through early childhood.”
It’s important to acknowledge that heavy metals can’t be entirely avoided. However, Beech-Nut employs rigorous quality testing measures to minimize their presence in our products and to reject any ingredients that don’t meet our strict quality standards.
Beech-Nut’s Rigorous Quality Testing Process
Beech-Nut has been proactively testing for heavy metals in our jar purees for over 30 years, long before it became a widespread concern. Our comprehensive quality testing program begins with raw ingredients, where we test samples before accepting the entire lot.
Alt text: Assortment of Beech-Nut glass jar baby food purees showcasing various fruit and vegetable flavors.
All our testing labs, including our in-house lab, are ISO-17025:2017 accredited. This accreditation ensures that our testing results meet the highest international standards for accuracy. Throughout the production process, we continuously test and check samples for color, taste, texture, and consistency. The final packaged products undergo one last heavy metal test before leaving our facility.
We also collaborate with leading food scientists and public health experts to continuously assess and improve our safety standards. This collaboration allows us to adapt to evolving science, data, and policies, leading us to phase out ingredients and products that don’t meet our increasingly stringent criteria.
Alt text: Close-up of microwave digestion equipment used in the Beech-Nut laboratory for preparing samples for heavy metal analysis.
Transparency Through QR Codes: A New Initiative
Beech-Nut is committed to providing parents with as much information as possible about the safety and quality of our baby food. Starting in 2025, we will implement a new initiative to enhance transparency even further.
California Assembly Bill 899 requires all baby food companies selling products in the state to disclose heavy metal testing results (for lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury) for each product batch on their website. Beech-Nut has chosen to meet this standard nationally. This means that all Beech-Nut products will feature a scannable QR code on the packaging, allowing you to access batch-specific testing results.
Alt text: Visual examples showing the placement and appearance of new QR codes on Beech-Nut baby food packaging.
This QR code will provide you with direct access to data representative of the exact package you are holding in your hands, no matter where you are in the country. This level of transparency demonstrates our commitment to earning and maintaining your trust.
Why Beech-Nut Prioritizes Quality and Safety
At Beech-Nut, we understand that you are entrusting us with the health and well-being of your children. That’s why we are relentless in our pursuit of quality and safety. We don’t just confirm the safety of our food; we proactively seek out and address potential issues before they arise.
Our testing process is meticulous, time-intensive, and requires significant investment in manpower, dedication, and patience. We believe this is an investment worth making. We are incredibly proud of the integrity and diligence that goes into producing our food because we know it’s the right thing to do for our kids – and yours.
Alt text: Miri, a Beech-Nut employee, holding a baby and smiling next to Janeen Richey, Food Safety Manager.
If you have any questions about our heavy metal testing process or any other aspect of our commitment to quality and safety, please do not hesitate to contact us at
