CLASSIC: Contaminants in Baby Food

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know

Episode: CLASSIC: Contaminants in Baby Food

Date: July 23, 2026
Hosts: Matt, Ben
Producer: Mission Control Decant
Podcast by: iHeartPodcasts

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Main Theme / Purpose

This episode takes a deep and critical look at contamination issues in baby food, particularly the presence of heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. The hosts examine evidence from recent congressional investigations and studies, discuss why these contaminants persist, the regulatory landscape, industry responsibility, and give practical advice for worried parents. The tone is serious and, at times, unsettling, with the hosts balancing hard facts with the hope of empowering listeners to take action.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Baby Food Industry Landscape

• The Gerber Baby & Tradition: The Gerber Baby as a cultural icon and how baby food consumption links generations.
  “The industry, at some point, in some way, affects every single person on the planet.” (Ben, 10:55)
• Market Size & Major Players:
  • The baby food market is huge, valued at $71.4 billion in 2018, expected to reach $98.9 billion (12:34).
  • Controlled by three major multinationals: Nestlé (owns Gerber), Breckett Benkiser/Mead Johnson, Danone (15:30).

2. Contaminants in Baby Food: What’s Really Inside?

• Toxic Heavy Metals:
  Landmark 2021 Congressional investigation found widespread contamination: lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury in baby foods.
  • Key Fact: “95% of all these foods that they tested contained at least one of the heavy metals. And one in four…contained all four.” (Matt, 31:15)
• Long-Term Health Risks:
  • Heavy metals are especially damaging for infants and young children: IQ loss, learning disabilities, neurotoxicity, increased cancer and chronic disease risks (25:50, 26:57).
  • “All of them have been linked to things like cancer, chronic diseases of all sorts, neurotoxic effects, learning disabilities, all kinds of things.” (Matt, 25:55)

3. How Do Heavy Metals Get into Baby Food?

• Not Just Product Tampering:
  • The contaminants mostly come from the crops themselves due to polluted soil, water, past pesticide use, and environmental pollution—not deliberate malfeasance at the manufacturing stage (46:13).
  • “...food comes from somewhere else. It doesn't come from those factories. It comes from the soil.” (Ben, 46:13)

4. Study Highlights & Brand Responses

• Brand Compliance and Stonewalling:
  • Only some big companies (e.g., Gerber, Beechnut, Hain) cooperated with the congressional investigation; others (including Walmart, Campbell, Sprout) did not (36:34).
  • Statements from companies claim adherence to “all federal guidelines or FDA standards,” but often only test raw ingredients—not always end products (38:25).
• Only 9 of 168 Baby Foods found 'Clean':
  • Of all foods tested, just nine contained no detectable heavy metals (35:18, 36:13).

5. Lax Regulation & Testing Loopholes

• No FDA Limits for Heavy Metals in Baby Food:
  • “There are no FDA standards for these heavy metals in baby foods. They don't exist.” (Matt, 43:49)
  • Comparison: drinking water has strict metal limits (lead = 5 ppb, arsenic = 10 ppb), but baby food often exceeds these standards by up to 177 times for lead and 91 times for arsenic (43:04).
• Testing Raw Ingredients, Not Finished Foods:
  • “They test the carrot when it comes in ... The big question is: are they actually testing the end product?” (Matt, 37:51)

6. Cumulative Exposure & Parental Advice

• Cumulative Risk:
  • The risk builds up over time, not from a single exposure.
  • “The problem is it's cumulative.” (Matt, 52:48)
• Advice to Parents:
  • Moderation and variety in diet, prioritize fresh fruits and grains other than rice (which is often high in arsenic), look for clean-label brands, and don’t panic over single exposures (53:14).
  • Trust between parents and brands has been shaken due to this betrayal of public health trust (53:41).

7. Accountability & Next Steps

• Is This a Crime?
  • Ongoing lawsuits allege harm related to autism/ADHD linked to metal exposure, but with no set regulatory limits, legal cases are complex (50:03).
• What Can Be Done?
  • Push for stronger regulations, better testing, and systemic changes.
  • Individual action is limited by the pervasiveness of contamination in soil/water supplies.
  • Major hope: public outcry and consumer pressure may force legislative and industry changes.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Manufacturers knowingly sell – not sold, knowingly sell – tainted baby food to unsuspecting parents in spite of internal company test results showing high levels of these toxic metals without any warning labels.”
  – Ben (27:01)
• “Of the 168 baby foods tested, some were found not to contain traces of any of these four metals. Exactly nine baby foods of 168 were found to be clean.”
  – Ben (35:18)
• “There are no FDA standards for these heavy metals in baby foods. They don’t exist.”
  – Matt (43:49)
• “If you are feeding your child baby food, you need to just limit the number of these things they’re eating and supplement it with really fresh fruit … and grains not rice.”
  – Matt (53:14)
• “It stinks that part of that burden falls on you as a parent to do the digging, do the research, to not be afraid of writing directly to companies.”
  – Ben (54:27)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [08:00] – Start of in-depth discussion, seriousness of the issue
• [10:30] – Nestle’s dominance and baby food industry background
• [12:34] – Market size statistics and global context
• [15:30] – Three giant companies control nearly half the market
• [24:36] – “Here’s where it gets crazy”: Congressional study drops
• [25:50, 31:15] – Discussion of four major heavy metals, health risks, and study findings
• [35:18] – Only nine baby foods out of 168 tested clean
• [36:34] – Which brands cooperated, and which stonewalled Congress
• [43:49] – No FDA standard for heavy metals in baby food
• [52:48] – Cumulative effect and practical advice for parents
• [54:27] – Burden on parents to do their own research

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Flow & Tone

The hosts blend fact-driven discussion with empathy, practical advice, and occasional dry humor to keep the episode from feeling overwhelmingly bleak. The tone is earnest, sometimes exasperated, and always focused on how listeners—especially parents—can make informed choices and push for systemic reforms.

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Conclusion & Call to Action

Listeners are encouraged to:

• Research and stay updated via credible sources (e.g., Healthy Babies Bright Futures, Clean Label Project, the Congressional report).
• Demand transparency from manufacturers and push for governmental action.
• Share personal stories to support collective advocacy and awareness (“We need your help. … How do you think this contamination can or should be addressed?” [56:25]).

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This summary encapsulates the heart of the episode, highlighting the scope of the issue, what’s at stake, and what listeners can do next. For parents, consumers, and anyone interested in food safety, this is a must-listen and a sobering call for vigilance and advocacy.

Transcript

[A]

All right, this one is for the baby conspiracy realist in the crowd.

[B]

Welcome to planet Earth.

[A]

Hope it still has that new car smell. Hope you're in a honeymoon period. Sorry about all the terrible stuff that happened before you were born.

[B]

But we hope you like baby food.

[C]

Oh, man. You know, it's certain flavors of baby food that I think are yummy, even to grownups. No, I'm just kidding. I just always liked the pablum. You know, when there was like a kind of a porridge kind of thing. I enjoyed eating that when I was a kid.

[A]

Gogurt is baby food.

[B]

It's just marketed to adults.

[C]

Gogurt slaps and things like Cream of Wheat. But, you know, we've talked often on the POD about a time before, you know, very rigorous standards regarding packaging and then some of the, you know, aspirin poisoning, you know, epidemics and various instances of product tampering. Who is more vulnerable in that regard than, you know, the humans, the tiny humans that consume baby food and the.

[D]

The adult parents that are attempting to get whatever the healthiest thing is they can afford for their child. Right. And those are two different things. The thing they can afford and the healthiest thing. And you try and find the medium, the median in there somewhere.

[E]

Guys, there.

[D]

This is 2021, when we talked about this. I'm looking at a CBS News article from March of this year, 2026, saying some baby formula brands contain lead, arsenic, and other heavy metals. According to Consumer Reports. It's not like this is something that's gone away that we covered back then, you know?

[B]

Mm.

[A]

Yeah, because we found that numerous baby

[B]

food products, especially in the United States,

[A]

contain ingredients that are not only bad for the kiddos, but are things that you will not see on the label stuff like mercury, lead, arsenic, et cetera,

[B]

et cetera, at all.

[A]

So in 2021, we asked, how long has this been occurring? Or what did the manufacturers know exactly, and when did they learn that? Is there a conspiracy afoot?

[C]

And, guys, I know I led with this idea of tampering with baby food. We're talking about stuff not even requiring tampering. We're talking about stuff that ends up in there unbeknownst to the consumer from the companies themselves, who are supposed to be legitimate and looking after their end consumer, which would be, in this case, babies. But there have been examples of folks purposefully contaminating baby food as well. But that's not exactly the. The throw of this episode.

[D]

Do you guys remember if this one covers baby formula as well or this is just like the jar, baby food kind of stuff.

[E]

I just can't remember if we.

[D]

Because I know baby formula is a whole other bag of badgers. Hopefully we talk about a little bit in this one, but remember we, when

[E]

we looked back at that, guys, I

[D]

can't remember if we've done a full episode on it.

[C]

Baby formula has always been a bit controversial. I mean, there, you know, I mean, obviously a lot of mothers, new mothers would prefer to be able to breastfeed, but because there are sometimes extenuating circumstances that make that difficult or impossible, I know that typically formula is considered the second choice and there are reasons for that. Not necessarily contamination, but even just how it can affect the health of a growing child versus breastfeeding.

[A]

And we do indeed talk about infant formula in this episode. And as we had pointed out here,

[B]

folks, there is a hard and disturbing

[A]

argument that the situation hasn't changed. Changed or hasn't improved that much over

[B]

these past five years.

[D]

Well, and look up Abbott Labs. That's happening right now with bacterial contamination in baby formula.

[E]

It's crazy.

[B]

And let's roll the tape. This is an I heart podcast.

[A]

Guaranteed human.

[C]

This episode of stuff they don't want you to know is brought to you by Wise Code.

[B]

Guys.

[C]

You know, these days it feels like every product of the grocery store claims to be healthy and all natural or, you know, better for you than. Than the other stuff often ends up being quite the misleading proposition.

[D]

Oh, yeah. Once you turn the package over, you're left trying to figure out what these ingredients are. Often they're difficult to pronounce and understand.

[A]

Yeah, and that's where Wise Code comes in, folks. Wise Code is your new ultra processed food detector. It takes the guesswork out of grocery shopping.

[C]

Yep, it sure does. And all you have to do is scan your product, whatever you've picked up that you're questioning with your phone, and instantly you'll be able to see whether or not it is ultra processed. And it'll even give give you even further insights into things like nutrition.

[D]

Oh, yes, with Wise Code, you can look into all kinds of stuff on

[E]

nutrition quality, health quality.

[D]

It'll help you understand what's inside that thing, especially if it's packaged before you purchase it.

[A]

Yeah, and it doesn't matter if you're shopping for yourself or your family or just trying to make more informed, healthier food choices. Wise Code is here to give you another layer of crucial information right at your fingertips.

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[D]

Hello.

[E]

Welcome back to the show. My name is Matt.

[B]

Our compatriot Noel is on adventures but will be returning. They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our super producer, all mission control decant.

[A]

Most importantly, you are you.

[B]

You are here and that makes this stuff they don't want you to know. Matt, I don't often say this because I don't want to be alarmist, but today's episode is something that everyone needs to pay close attention to. This is an ongoing situation. This is A serious situation. And it's one, frankly, that we could use your help with. We meaning not just Matt and Paul and myself, but everyone listening, especially parents with young children. Let's start with something wholesome. You will be glad we did, I can assure you. So, Matt, you remember the Gerber Baby?

[E]

I do remember the Gerber Baby. I've recently seen the Gerber Baby as of several years ago when I was taking their products and putting them into my son.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah. The Gerber Baby is probably one of the most famous babies in modern history. And like the Marlboro man of old, the Gerber Baby is actually several different babies. Since 1928 or so, the companies use this adorable face of this tyke to sell their products to parents around the US and the world. Interesting fact. For a long time, the identity of the actual baby was a secret until the late 70s. But as the years went on, the company began holding these wildly popular contests to choose the next Gerber Baby. So there are probably people in the crowd today who were contestants in that. You know, without their consent, of course, it was their parents or people who have said, hey, my baby's cute. Maybe my baby is Gerber baby cute. In some ways, it's like this American tradition now, and it's probably going to stand the test of time, but not for the reason you might think it's going to stand the test of time. Because nowadays Gerber is a subsidiary of another much, much larger company.

[E]

Yeah. One that we've talked about before. For us, it was in the context of water, which they're very much known for. And there's also a lot of water in Gerber products. But that doesn't mean that's why we're talking about them. The company, you'll remember is Nestle.

[B]

Known for their chocolate. The activities they engage in to get that chocolate from a bean state to your local grocery store. Known, of course, for bottled water and their extensive work in that regard. We've covered these, as Matt said in previous episodes. But did you know, conspiracy realists, that Nestle is also this country's largest purveyor of baby food? Just the umbrella term baby food. That's where our story begins. It's a story that we have all been characters in. Whether our part in the story started when we were 4 to 6 months of age, or when babies typically begin eating solid food, or whether our story starts later in life, when we were parents, babysitters, elder siblings or guardians, this industry, at some point, in some way, affects every single person on the planet. So let's talk about it. Let's dive in. Here are the facts. Baby food.

[E]

Yeah, baby food. A lot of times the first food is milk from your mother. If you're a mammal, that's generally how the story goes. But for a myriad of reasons, that's not always in the cards for everyone. So there are things like baby products, baby formula, baby food, and like Ben said, around four to six months, that food starts to change. And my goodness, we were all babies and we all need food. And it is a difficult thing to make baby food for your own child on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. So that means there's a lot of baby food. And it means that it's a large market, essentially. Lots of people trying to buy different baby food, which means it's a huge competitive industry, lots of companies trying to vie for that market share. And retail sales in the baby food segment were about US$71.4 billion in 2018.

[H]

Wow.

[E]

And it's expected that in three years, that number, $71.4 billion, will jump to $98.9 billion. And that's. That jump is a whole bunch of reasons. Everything from inflation to the number of people actually eating the baby food. There's a bunch of stuff that goes into that projection, but. But it is going to grow.

[B]

And we're getting some of these from Statistica. So those numbers you just heard are us. But this projection. This projection has a lot of different factors that could come into play. I love that you pointed that out, Matt. We're not just talking about projected births. We're also talking about parts of the world where people have rising income. So people who were traditionally having to make baby food at home can maybe now spend a little bit more of that extra income at the grocery store buying these products. In 2019, China officially became the largest single market for baby food. India comes in second place. The US Ranks sixth. One incredibly depressing US baby food fact I found because, as you know, Matt, I'm not conventionally reading about baby food. Baby food, dude. It is one of the most frequently shoplifted items in the entirety of the

[A]

US

[B]

that is a statement that is true and has an anthology of heartbreaking stories behind. Reminds me of that old short story that's so often attributed unprovably to Hemingway. For sale Baby shoes never wore.

[E]

Oh, yeah, Hemingway got it right. And it's not always shoplifting. Many times it's, oh, wow, this kid grew a lot faster than we expected. My son went. I think he had. He's had two Pairs of shoes now that we bought for him. He tried them on, wore them for about a week and then it was over and he couldn't wear them anymore. And that's just how it goes. But yeah, you're right. There are a lot of reasons why through circumstance you may have to turn to getting food for your baby or you know, something that you need for your baby and you just can't afford it. It's terrible.

[B]

Yeah. Necessity is one of the greatest motivators for the breaking of social norms. Right. Or the breaking of laws. So let's look at the players in the baby food industry right now. If you look at baby food in general and you include infant formula which can replace the mother's milk that you have mentioned, Matt, you'll see that this market is largely dominated by three outfits. Nestle, a group called Breckett Benkiser, also known as Mead Johnson, and another one that I wasn't too familiar with. I don't know if you had heard of the Matt Danone. Danone.

[E]

No, I know Dannon. I don't know Danone. D A N O, N E. Not sure about them, but yeah. Together those three firms control 45% of the global market share when it comes to this stuff. That's a lot of control for three companies.

[B]

Oh, also fact check, fact check live, which we usually don't have to do. It's a French company. It's pronounced Danone.

[E]

Oh, Dunone.

[B]

So sorry about that. For anybody who is going to hear the conspiracy were unraveling and their primary objection would be the mispronunciation there. If that's what we got in front of that. Yeah, think about that. They control almost half of the global market share. There are other players in the game, of course, but these are the titans of this industry. Ingredients, regulations. All right, let's say it. Baby food, I just always assumed was not considered particularly appetizing to many adults or many kids for that matter. I was somewhat incorrect in that assumption. I found that there, there's a

[A]

whole

[B]

wealth of literature of recipes that use baby food as ingredients for adults. And there's some adults who like baby food. Either way, it's not going to hurt you if you eat it as an adult. It does play this vital role in childhood development. Like you were saying, Matt. And I remember, you know, when, when your son was even younger, you were like, this kid is growing so fast. I'm like, oh, that's so wholesome and heartwarming. And you're like, no, dude, I have to buy Clothes and stuff.

[E]

Yeah. Like, right. Right now he's out of clothes, essentially, because he's outgrown them over the past couple of months. And my goodness, it is. It's not cheap, you guys. Thank goodness for places. Oh, I'm gonna blank on the name now. Kid to kid, I think is what it's called. Places like that where it's hand me down clothes. That because all these parents, everyone. You are probably in the same situation out there where you just. You need to get rid of these clothes, you need to get new clothes. You can trade them kid to kid. Not sponsored by them, but they're great. It is so true. And this baby food is highly important, as you said, for the nutrition of these children. And I'm gonna have to point out some of the newer baby foods, at least newer to me since I become a parent, are actually pretty good. It's essentially like a fruit and vegetable smoothie, but it's more of a puree than, you know, a juice or something. And it's actually pretty tasty because it's just, you know, you're getting actual strawberries in there. It's not so bad. At least it doesn't taste immediately so bad.

[B]

Yeah, there we go. I mean, kids, human kids, grow at a breakneck pace and need a steady supply of nutritious food. This is not a hot take multiple. A multitude of studies show that a lack of proper nutrition, even in one specific area or another, can have these damaging, permanent effects on people throughout the rest of their lives. Malnutrition is a great example. Like, if you look at certain generations of people born in South Korea and people born in the dprk, you'll notice that there is a observable, statistically consistent difference in height because residents of the dprk, the vast majority for time, were laboring under food insecurity. So everybody knows this is true. Everybody knows this is not the part that's a hot take. These are just the facts, folks. In the US there's an outfit called the center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. They're responsible for the regulation of infant formula, specifically amid a number of other things. So we have people with eyes on this, and even the most extreme opponents of big government in the audience, even the most extreme of libertarians can see the value of inherent in having some sort of authority keeping eye on food manufacturers here. So this should be the opposite of a hot button or controversial issue, right?

[E]

Yeah, of course. Why would there be any problems here?

[B]

I mean, right?

[E]

There is a problem, and it's A problem that's been around for a while, and we're going to tell you exactly what it is and how bad it is, right after a word from our sponsor.

[C]

This episode of Stuff They Don't Want yout To Know is brought to you by Wise Code. Guys. You know, these days, it feels like every product at the grocery store claims to be healthy and all natural, or, you know, better for you than the other stuff. But that often ends up being quite the misleading proposition.

[E]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

Once you turn the package over, you're left trying to figure out what these ingredients are. Often they're difficult to pronounce and understand.

[A]

Yeah, and that's where Wise Code comes in, folks. Wise Code is your new ultra processed food detector. It takes the guess work out of grocery shopping.

[C]

Yep, it sure does. And all you have to do is scan your product, whatever you've picked up that you're questioning with your phone, and instantly you'll be able to see whether or not it is ultra processed. And it'll even give you even further insights into things like nutrition.

[D]

Oh, yes. With Wise Code, you can look into all kinds of stuff on nutrition quality, health quality. It'll help you understand what's inside that thing, especially if it's packaged before you purchase it.

[A]

Yeah. And it doesn't matter if you're shopping for yourself or your family or just trying to make more informed, healthier food choices, Wise Code is here to give you another layer of crucial information right at your fingertips.

[C]

It's quick, easy to use, and designed to help you navigate the grocery store with more confidence.

[D]

Download wisecode. That's W I S E C O D E. The Ultra Processed food detector on the app Store today. And start discovering what's really inside the foods you buy.

[C]

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[D]

We'll wait.

[E]

Just kidding.

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That would be ridiculous. Yet we do it every time we need health care.

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Yeah, it's bonkers.

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Here's where it gets crazy. So contamination, baby food. It's real thing. It's not some alarmist opinion.

[A]

Whatever.

[B]

There was a landmark congressional study just released earlier this month as Matt and I record this on February 4, 2021. Congress found that despite the existence of some regulations, literal tons and tons and tons of baby food products are contaminated such that you probably want to think twice before you give them to your children. This wasn't an isolated incident, folks. This was not like company A, some factory for company A had a bad day or got some crap carrots and used them anyway, or some apple cherry puree. I don't even know if that's a thing, Matt. But instead, this study, they found that a wealth of baby food products are contaminated with something called toxic heavy metals. Inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury in particular.

[E]

And these aren't the only toxic heavy metals that historically have been found in food, especially in baby foods. But these four are the ones that are focused on in this congressional study. And the four metals, they're bad, you guys. All four are considered by the WHO to be the top. In the top 10 chemicals of concern when it comes to children, infants and younger children. All of them have been linked to things like cancer, chronic diseases of all sorts, neurotoxic effects, learning disabilities, all kinds of things. And their detrimental effects are way worse for developing brains, for young brains, as compared to adults and, you know, grown, grown folk such as us. Again, in this episode, we're going to make a little bit light of some of this in order to get through it, but this is very, very serious and we're going to take it seriously.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, consider. I know as soon as a lot of us heard that the L word, as soon as a lot of us heard lead and baby food, we were thinking of the longitudinal studies linking crime to early lead exposure. Right. Often through pipes and municipal water systems and so on. But, yeah, it gets worse. It gets much, much worse. According to Representative Raja Krishnamurthy, who is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, the congressional investigation that the subcommittee conducted, quote, revealed that manufacturers knowingly sell. Not sold, knowingly sell tainted baby food to unsuspecting parents in spite of internal company test results showing high levels of these toxic metals without any warning labels. Right. Which, from a pure profit motive, makes sense. You're a parent, you're going to. You have to buy some kind of baby food. You pick up two items next to each other on the shelf, you flip them around, look at the ingredients, and one of them has a warning that says may contain lead. Which one are you going to go for? You know.

[E]

Yeah. Or, you know, may contain lead, arsenic, cadmium, and other terrible things like mercury. Yeah, you're not going to buy that. And we're going to break this stuff down even further. And there are reasons why there are no labels on there. And there are also reasons why the testing that is done by these companies is flawed. But for now, what it does mean is that the manufacturers of a lot of these baby foods were aware that these substances were in their products and they still let them get purchased and they still manufactured them and they just kept going because they knew that there were potential dangers. And it doesn't mean that these, at least right now, if you're a parent listening to this and you probably just fed your child some, something from Beechnut or Gerber or whoever it was, it doesn't mean your baby is immediately in, you know, in peril because of this. It doesn't mean your child is at risk right now in this moment because you fed them one thing of baby food. But it does mean feeding them over time could be a real risk. And the companies that sold it to you knew

[B]

yikes and kept doing it, not just in the US but around the world. They were explicitly aware of the potential dangers here. So according to a guy named Dr. Leonardo Trasande, who is a professor of pediatrics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, also the director of the center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards over at nyu, according to this doctor, critics have been raising concerns about the possibility of this contamination for years. This is not breaking news to the public. I mean, it definitely wasn't breaking news to the companies. In 2017. There was a nonprofit organization still around called Clean Label Project and they released findings from a study they had commissioned that showed the same thing we're talking about today. I think they focus specifically on arsenic, lead and mercury in their findings. And they found these again in the leading brand, brand name products for infant formula and baby food. And then there was another study that came out just last year. Wait, no, two years ago now? 2021, this came out in 2019.

[E]

Yes, yeah. Study from Healthy Babies, Bright Futures came out in October of 2019. They took it a step further from the 2017. They looked at 168 baby foods. They were looking for the same stuff, arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium. And they found some terrible things. And right now if you go online and search, I think how I found it was toxic baby food. 2019. That's a good way to find it. Or just look up that organization, Healthy Babies, Bright Futures. You can find what we're about to tell you. They found 95% of all of these foods that they tested contained at least one of the heavy metals. And one in four of the baby foods contained all four. So a quarter of that, 168 different types of baby food contained all four heavy metals.

[B]

Yeah. Yep. And amid these metals, lead was the worst offender. So we, we know a lot about how lead can affect developing human minds. 94% of the baby foods tested contained some degree of lead. Cadmium and arsenic followed. They were in about 3/4, around 3/4 of all the baby food tested. And you know, I was thinking, Matt, maybe there's a way for manufacturers to spin things that contain. I don't think you could get away with this with lead. Too many people know about it. But if. What if you change the label to now with 10% more cadmium? Cadmium sounds just enough like calcium that people would be fooled.

[E]

If you used a selective font, you could probably get away with it.

[B]

Yeah, make it papyrus. Make it something classy.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So mercury was the least common of these. Mercury was in less than a little. Less than one third of the food tested. So comparatively, I guess that's not so bad. This is dark. But you can find like one other thing they found that is useful for any parent listening today is that some foods were more likely to have this stuff. And we'll also explain why later in today's episode.

[E]

Yeah, we'll talk about rice in particular, which is something that tends to have more arsenic. So rice based cereals and snacks were particularly high in this stuff. And juices, dude, there have been so many studies over the years about juices. And it's for the same things we're going to talk about today, the same processes that these heavy metals get into these products. We're going to tell you about that. But juices, Good lord. Cranberry juice, you guys, was my absolute all time favorite thing for so many years. And now I'm just thinking twice. I feel like my IQ has been reduced several points at least according to some of the studies, because of the amount of cranberry juice I have taken into my body.

[B]

Well, wait, wait. Doctors recommend cranberry juice for people with kidney problems.

[E]

Yeah. Well. And guess where heavy metals go. Your kidneys.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[E]

I'm just joking.

[B]

Oh, God.

[E]

I'm just joking. I'm kind of joking about that part. But I really did drink a lot of cranberry juice. Another thing are like tubers, especially sweet potatoes, things that grow in the ground. Root vegetables, carrots, et cetera. They can be especially dangerous as well.

[B]

Yeah. Which has got to be a surprise for a lot of us because rice snacks are often sold as a healthy alternative. Right. To various things. And of course, they're all over. I almost said the cereal community they're all over the big cereal brands, you know, because rice is an inexpensive foodstuff and it can be very nutritious. So four of the seven rice cereals that are specifically for infants that this study tested contained inorganic arsenic, and that's the more toxic form of this metal. The levels of arsenic of this type of arsenic that we're in there exceeded the FDA's proposed limit of 100 parts per billion. So the FDA for this arsenic, for this case does have a proposed limit, which is, hey guys, like you're talking to loud kids at a dorm. Hey guys, keep your arsenic levels down to 100 parts per billion.

[E]

We're going to talk about the FDA and baby foods right towards the ends of this.

[B]

Okay, great. Yeah, good. Only there is a little bit of light in the tunnel, but it's faint and it's distant. Of the 168 baby foods tested, some were found not to contain traces of any of these four metals. Exactly. Nine baby foods of 168 were found to be clean. So these studies are in large part what prompted this congressional investigation. And in the course of this investigation, the Congress asked seven of the largest baby food producers in the US to give their own internal documents and their own test results. Because naturally, you know, part of being a food company and selling to the public means that you have to have internal testing. There are safety standards of some sort you have to meet. Here's the thing though, Matt. Four companies replied to the request. Nurture, Beechnut, Hain and Gerber. But a couple of companies just didn't do it. Imagine that. Like, what level are you at when Congress asks you for something and you

[E]

go, eh, well, you're at Walmart level.

[B]

Right. Specifically. Sure.

[E]

Which is one of the companies that did not respond. Also, Campbell, like Campbell Soup, they produce quite a bit of baby food as well as sprout organic foods, which I have to say is one of the biggest brands that my family chose to feed our son, which troubles me greatly. But that's okay. That's okay. So, yeah, they didn't respond. They didn't, they didn't give the investigators anything. And it made them, you know, the people who are looking into this, quote, greatly concerned.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that's, that is a verbatim quote, but it doesn't, doesn't quite nail the reaction that people. People would be having. Right. So several of the companies, we should note to be fair, have released public statements in response to this or have responded to members of the media asking them about it. You can read those Statements online, they are pretty much exactly what you expect, which is the gist is we test rigorously for any materials or anything that can't legally be included in this stuff. Or the way it'll sometimes be phrased is we rigidly adhere to all federal

[E]

guidelines or FDA standards or something like that. And one of the major things you'll read in these statements is that they test each product as it comes in. So one of the major things we're going to continue on here is that they test the carrot when it comes in and gets ready for the manufacturing process. They test the apple, they test, you know, the individual foods. The big question, though is are they actually testing the end product and where. Where are those numbers? Because that's what this investigation was looking

[B]

at, the actual product and the containers too, right? Yeah, that's how they would. That's some of the metrics the studies use or some of the language. So specific examples of this kind of stuff include, of course, Beechnut, Gerber. That's a bummer. Plum Organics, Parents Choice. Many, many, many, many more. And I know these names are familiar to a lot of folks listening to the show today and maybe to my co host. So.

[E]

Dude, I know the Plum Organics one too. Dude. As a parent, like, you're trying to. You're trying to give your kid the best stuff. No matter who you are, no matter where you are, you want to give your kid the best stuff you can afford and you know, the. The best foods. You have access to the healthiest things. And I swear to you, man, a lot of these foods market themselves and conv. They market themselves as being healthy. They convince you as a parent that you're doing the right thing. And I'm not saying that you're doing the wrong thing by feeding your kids these things. It's just. It's a. It feels like a real betrayal knowing that they knew.

[B]

Right, right. And of course, none of this is medical advice. We're just. We're giving you the lay of. The lay of this disturbing land. So how. How about this? We should point out that there are doubtlessly other products out there containing these poisons. This is the beginning of what may end up being an even larger list. We're going to pause for a word from our sponsor and we'll return to talk a little bit about how we as a society got here, the potential health effects and what, if anything, you can do as an individual or your communities can do as a group to combat this problem. We're back. The danger here is not theoretical. The danger here is proven. It is clear these substances can cause harm to a baby's developing brain and nervous system, both while they're in utero and after birth. Impacts can include things like the permanent loss of intellectual capacity. And they've also been linked to things like ADHD or autism. All four of these antagonists in this story are linked to IQ loss from exposures early in life. The evidence is here. There's hard science behind it. The science behind it spans decades. The research is ongoing, and it keeps proving the same stuff. There were at least 23 studies published in the last seven or eight years that confirm the impact specifically of these toxic heavy metals on the healthy development of children. These studies are available. These studies are things that manufacturers of baby food would have been well aware of at the time. At least in part, it appears, according to Congress, because their own internal testing confirmed it. Yeah.

[E]

So let's now jump to the FDA and like, what do they say? What are the safe levels of some of these heavy metals? Are there any safe levels? What does that look like? How do you measure that kind of stuff? Well, in order to get a handle on this, we are forced to look at drinking water statistics and fda. Yeah. FDA guidelines and a couple like, EPA guidelines for drinking water. So according to this congressional report and according to the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA has a limit allowable level of some of this stuff in bottled water. So when you're talking about. When you're talking about arsenic, it's 10 parts per billion of this inorganic arsenic, this particular type of the metal. When you're talking about lead, it's capped at 5 parts per billion as the allowable amount. And cadmium, 5 parts per billion. Okay, so really low 10, 5 and 5 parts per billion to be safe in drinking water. The epa, when it looks at this, has capped the allowable level of mercury in drinking water at 2 parts per billion. Again, almost nothing, Almost zero. But then we got to look at the test results of these baby foods and is pretty astounding. The levels that were found.

[B]

Right. The test results for baby food and their ingredients. Back to your earlier point, Matt. Congress says they eclipse those levels. There are results that are up to 91 times the allowable level of arsenic, again, in bottled water. Up to 177 times the level of lead. 69 times. Nice. The level of cadmium and up to 5 times the level of mercury. And again, remember, we said mercury is the one that seems to occur the least often. So why are we using bottled water?

[A]

Why, Matt?

[B]

Why did you say we're forced to use the standards for bottled water?

[E]

Well, that's because there are no FDA standards for these heavy metals in baby foods. They don't. They don't exist. There are no standards for them.

[B]

That's wild.

[E]

Why? Because they're babies. Sorry. Sorry.

[B]

No, Matt was at the meeting. The fda?

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

It's just. It feels like insanity. I don't understand.

[B]

Yeah, it's unacceptable. And, you know, we want to be clear, when we're talking about institutions doing this kind of stuff, we're not saying you working for the FDA or your friend working for the FDA is somehow inherently a bad person. These are things that happen collectively with institutions. There maybe there were some lobbyists putting their thumb on the scale. I would not, at this point be in the least surprised. Maybe there was just an overwhelming amount of paperwork. But the end result is that kids are literally eating lead and cadmium and arsenic and mercury. So that is where we are now. There are some proposed limits, but the FDA doesn't have these hard limits in. That's why we had to compare it to bottled water. What is to be done? Well, as we said at the top, this does not have an easy answer. There's not one particular institution that can correct it. If the FDA came back today and said these levels have to be this, then manufacturers would, of course, be legally bound to scramble to meet those constraints. But look, it's so easy to make someone the bad guy. It's not as if these manufacturers are like, sitting around on their coffee break from their Illuminati meeting meeting or their Bohemian Grove meeting and saying, you know what would be fun? It would be a real kick for all of us. Since we're out of adrenochrome, why don't we just start adding stuff to baby food? They didn't think about it like that. They didn't scheme to purposefully put dangerous substances in your children's food. That food comes from somewhere else. It doesn't come from those factories.

[A]

Right.

[B]

It comes from the soil. And that food grows in the soil using nutrients and using water. When the land and the water and the air are contaminated, then we are already starting out at a fundamental disadvantage in the supply chain. Even if you're a billion dollar company right now, there are only so many places in the world where you can get certain crops. It's true. That's just a reality. That's not a hot take. So these substances are also all elements that are occurring in the wild now because they've been frequently used in pesticides for like the last century or so. And they didn't ever go away. They're still in the soil, they're still in the groundwater. Even if they stopped being used in pesticides decades ago, that doesn't mean, that doesn't mean the, the missteps of the past were, were somehow negated. And the buildings bill and shortcomes do that.

[E]

Yeah, that's very true. And there's also a lot of these, particularly lead that were just pumped out in the air through automobiles for a long time. When you're, when you're thinking about diesel and the lead that was contained in their lead paint, all kinds of lead products that just ended up in the environment. There are a lot of reasons that the soil itself, as you said, Ben, is going to be contaminated because the air was contaminated, because the water was contaminated at some point, because X was contaminated at some point, it continues to be polluted and contaminated. And it's, it's, it is a very tough situation. Knowing that, knowing that I think it's around 1% of the Earth's land area is actually able to be or to be used for producing crops. It's a very small amount of the Earth that humanity can actually use to grow its food. And you know, what are you going to do when you can't use it, let alone the whole. Was it the phosphorus.

[G]

Yeah.

[E]

Was it the phosphorus thing where we're running out of phosphorus?

[B]

That's been on your mind for a while.

[E]

It really is on my mind, dude.

[B]

It also freaked me out to take us in maybe a slightly less, hopefully less depressing tangent. Did you know that phosphorus is being considered as one of the markers of possible life on other planets or intelligent life? Like in the search, in the search for stuff we've been. The human species has been looking for evidence of water, evidence of other, like carbon, et cetera. But phosphorus may end up being the key. It's more important than a lot of people think.

[E]

And don't, don't let them fool you, Ben. They're just looking for phosphorus so we can take it and bring it back here because we need it.

[B]

Phosphorus heist. I'm down.

[A]

I would be.

[B]

I would crew on that mission. According to the World bank, the percentage of arable land, the world percentage of the world's total land area that could be considered agricultural, it's pretty high. It's 37.7%. But the part that can be considered arable land, which is what I think we're really talking about, is only 10.6%. And that number, that number may decrease. Decrease over time.

[E]

Well, a little better than 1%. So thank goodness. Thank goodness for now, like.

[B]

All right, but, but okay, so here's another question. If the FDA has not set those minimal levels, it's a messed up question, but it's one our show has to ask. Are these manufacturers breaking the law in their conspiracy to put profits over the health of children? It is a conspiracy. Totally. But is it an illegal conspiracy at this point?

[E]

That's tough. I'll have them talk to my attorneys. Wait, I'll have to hire some attorneys, but yeah, I don't want to get sued by these guys, you know, my big baby. No, please, not that.

[B]

So there are. There are advocates who believe that there's a strong legal case here. About a week after that report published earlier this February, a law firm got involved. Their name is Baum, Headland, Aristi and Goldman. And they have started accepting lawsuit cases about toxic baby food for parents who purchase food from any of those brands and have children who have been diagnosed with autism or adhd, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But again, but again, none of that cleanses the ecosystem of these contaminants. And from what we understand of the current science, nobody really knows how to 100% get the genie back in the bottle here. Or if there is a way. It's still largely theoretical and multiple institutions are unwilling to bear the cost of the attempt itself. So the current hope right now, amidst the nonprofit groups, the concerned parents, the politicians, everybody, is that the findings of these and other studies might spur manufacturers to do more testing and to change their practices as much as possible to get these levels down. But then we have to ask about the other folks in the crowd, the other folks who are affected by this supply chain, the parents. Like, what if.

[A]

What if?

[B]

You are listening to this episode and this is the first time you're learning about this, your first question is, what the hell do I do now?

[E]

Yeah, yeah, what the hell do I do? And in order to discuss that, you have to talk about a few things. The first one is that it appears because of how these heavy metals function, we are talking about a cumulative effect when it comes to these things. And it's not a. You get dosed one time by eating, you know, a particular baby food that has some arsenic in it. And then now your child has issues. The problem is it's cumulative. So I've been watching way too much daytime TV where they've had experts on talking about this. Ben, I've been watching so Much. You remember that show, the doctors.

[B]

Yes.

[E]

They did a fairly good job, actually, by having numerous experts on and getting some competing opinions here. But the takeaway from all of them together, I would say, is that pediatricians say that you just need to. If you are feeding your child baby food, you need to just limit the number of these things they're eating and supplement it with really fresh fruits, generally.

[D]

It's what.

[E]

What they're saying. And grains, not rice. That's just the first thing. I'm just going to put that out there. That's what I have heard. And that your child is not, you know, in danger just for eating, you know, one pouch or whatever that has some of these metals in it.

[B]

Right, right. This is not a death sentence. This is there. There's a cumulative aggregate effect at play with exposure to almost any substance, but

[E]

it does make it. There's a trust issue then, that I have, at least personally when it comes to this stuff, because as a parent, it feels like my trust, like the trust between me and these baby food manufacturers has been broken. Then it's making me question, you know, the advice I'm getting from daytime TV experts who are being paid to go on television and you know, who a lot of times are sponsored by these big companies. So it's tough to know. It's really tough to know. The good thing is that there are all kinds of resources out there online that you can check out, you can educate yourself and you can make the best decisions, at least that you can for you and your family.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And some of the nonprofits we mentioned earlier have advice as well on how to combat the rate of heavy metal consumption by exactly as you described, Matt. Finding safer alternatives to baby foods that may be on these lists or found to contain these substances. You know, oatmeal instead of rice, cereal or barley, etc. Maybe frozen bananas to replace teething cookies or biscuits. However, as any current or expecting parent knows, the world is full of advice for you. The cup of unsolicited parenting advice runneth over, you know, like. And these sources of advice are not created equally. Don't be fooled. I mean, you don't. Don't assume that everybody's automatically a bad actor. But don't let someone's opinion or persuasive writing fool you into thinking what you are reading is automatically factual. And it stinks right now that the burden of research is on people who have often just entered the busiest time of their adult lives and are trying to, like, sleep occasionally. It stinks that part of that burden falls on you as a parent to do the digging, do the research, to not be afraid of writing directly to companies with questions if you don't feel like you're getting satisfactory answers searching online, I guarantee you these companies have people whose entire job, their full time job is to field and answer these questions so they will be there. And then even if you find a blog that you really like, look for the science, look for the boring stuff, look for the numbers, look for the studies. That congressional report is available freely online. The studies that we mentioned are also freely available online. This stuff is not, you know, this is not a secret military program. Hopefully this stuff should all be declassified and for public consumption. And now we arrive at your part of the story, fellow conspiracy realist. As Matt and I said at the top, we need your help. How do you think this contamination can or should be addressed? Do these companies owe any kind of compensation to the children and the parents involved? I mean, how would that even work? That's a huge question. And perhaps most importantly, do you have a personal story or experience you would like to share with us or your fellow listeners? If so, please let us know. We try to be easy to find online.

[E]

Yeah, that's right. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter where we are. Conspiracy stuff. Conspiracy stuff. Show on Instagram you can check out. Here's where it Gets Crazy. That is our group on Facebook with, by the way, some of the best mods on the planet. Coolest human beings you will ever meet. Hopefully you, you won't cross them and have to meet them. That way you'll meet them in a happy way. On here's Where It Gets Crazy. If you, if you don't like using social media, well, hey, you can find us via your phone.

[B]

Yes, that's right, Matt. We have a phone number. 1 8. Call. You'll hear, you'll hear a voicemail message. You'll have three minutes. Those three minutes belong to you. We can't wait to hear from you. We have some tips for you that will help you, help you get around some of the weirdness of speaking into the void for three minutes. First, go ahead and open with your name or your nickname and let us know whether or not you are okay with your voice and name being used on air or your nickname. Second, tell us what's going on. Give us the scoop.

[A]

Give us the skinny.

[B]

Hip us, hip us to the story. And then third, if there's anything you want to just say to us, then leave that for the end. If it's something you just want Matt, Noel, Alexis, or Paul or me to know. And then fourth, last thing, most important, if there's a really long story that's on your mind, go ahead and write to us at our email address and we'll give you that email address. We made some pretty good progress, I think, going through our voicemail queue.

[E]

What are you talking about? You did Ben. You did that, dude. Thank you.

[B]

We did it. And Matt had to be a one man army for very long time. So we instituted something that without any hint of irony or pretension, we were calling Operation Scorched Earth. Voicemail.

[E]

Scorched mail.

[B]

That was better. That's what we should have gone with. But, but. So we can't wait to hear from you. But if you do not feel comfortable with the social media, if you don't really, really dig using the phone, totally get it. That's why we are always here for you. There's one easy way you can always contact us. That is our good old fashioned email address.

[E]

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[D]

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[E]

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[D]

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[E]

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[B]

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