Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Gerber and parent company Nestlé for allegdly selling baby food with dangerous levels of toxic metals.
In a petition filed in Collin County last week, Paxton cites findings from as far back as 2017 to claim that Gerber’s baby food contained hazardous levels of arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium while the brand marketed the products as “safe, pure, rigorously tested and recommended by medical professionals.” They accused the companies of deceiving consumers, and they requested a temporary injunction that would restrict Gerber from touting the safety of its products if they don’t comply with federal toxic metal limits.
The petition also cites a 5-year-old Alaska environmental lab test that Paxton says found two samples of Gerber rice cereal containing more than the federal limit of arsenic in two samples. The FDA has established a 100 part-per-billion limit on inorganic arsenic in baby food, but Paxton’s lawsuit said timelines for more limits have “slipped.”
“Gerber promised parents its food was safe and rigorously tested,” Paxton said in a news release on Wednesday. “Its own tests showed toxic metals in the food. When a company makes promises about what parents feed their babies, I will hold it accountable to ensure those promises are kept.”
In a statement to the Chronicle, a Gerber spokesperson defended the safety and quality of its baby food and said the products comply with heavy metal limits set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The spokesperson acknowledged the presence of heavy metals in its food but said its testing, quality checks and safety standards meet and often exceed federal regulations.
“Heavy metals are commonly found in the environment and can be absorbed by certain fruits, vegetables and grains in trace amounts as they grow,” the statement reads. “While heavy metals cannot be completely eliminated from the food supply, Gerber has long been committed to reducing their presence through careful ingredient sourcing, supplier requirements, testing and quality controls.”
The petition cites arsenic levels in rice flour, cadmium levels in carrots and lead levels in sweet potatoes between 2017 and 2019, and in each case, compares them to much stricter federal limits for metal in bottled water. The FDA acknowledges arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury can wind up in some food, but babies and young children are “more vulnerable to the harmful effects.”
Paxton’s office said there is no established safe amount of lead or arsenic for a baby to consume. Prosecutors said the company mostly tested for metal content in individual ingredients rather than the finished products during that time period.
Lead and arsenic are the top two items on a federal priority list of the most threatening substances to human health.
Last year, Gerber began labeling products with a QR code that lets customers check heavy metal test results for products manufactured after Jan. 1, 2025, according to Paxton’s office. Yet the level of heavy metal in the food and the brand’s alleged deception through its marketing did not change, prosecutors said.
This story may be updated.
