Shocking Hidden Ingredients In Your Baby’s Food That Will Leave You Fuming

There’s a certain level of implied trust when you purchase food and drinks for your children.

As consumers, we should be able to rely on manufacturers, and the agencies that regulate them, to provide us with products that will not harm us.

Sadly, there are some ingredients that have been obscured from the public eye that have drastic health implications; and it’s marketed toward our babies!

It is not unheard of to have toxic chemicals or carcinogens on an ingredients label, as we have come to find out through recent information blasts.

The Clean Label Project is a non-profit organization that has advocated for the consumer by urging companiesto be clear on everything that is in their product.

A study that was done by the Clean Label Project on 530 different kinds of food and drink, most of which are labeled for babies and toddlers, showed some shocking discoveries.

Romper reported:

The study found that many baby food products and 80 percent of infant formula tested positive for arsenic. Many of the foods and formulas come from major brand names.”

Several top brands tested positive for arsenic, including:

* Gerber

* Enfamil

* Plum Organics

* Sprout

This statistic is cause for concern, but you are not completely out of the woods by just avoiding baby foods.

Brussels sprouts, dark-meat fish, rice, chicken and other poultry, and beer and wine are said to have some of the highest amounts of arsenic compared to other foods, according to Prevention.

Some of the foods tested in the study revealed arsenic levels as high as 600 parts per billion.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that food is legally required to have levels lower than what the study found:

Through a draft guidance to industry, the FDA is proposing a limit or “action level” of 100 parts per billion (ppb) for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal. This is parallel to the level set by the European Commission (EC) for rice intended for the production of food for infants and young children.”

High levels of arsenic in the body is fatal. In children, the threshold for harm is much lower than an adult. Even at low levels, a child will begin to develop health complications that drastically reduce one’s quality of life.

According to the World Health Organization, some of the complications children may face are:

“..cancer and skin lesions. It has also been associated with developmental effects, cardiovascular disease, neurotoxicity and diabetes.”

In addition, the FDA has found that “exposure to inorganic arsenic in rice and rice products causes an additional four cases of lung and bladder cancer over the lifetime for every 100,000 people in the United States.”

This is not an issue to be taken lightly. This metal is not meant to be on our daily nutrition list and is definitely not supposed to be anywhere near our children.

What is arsenic exactly, and how did it get in our food? The FDA explains it well for those wondering why this regulation is necessary:

Arsenic is an element in the Earth’s crust and is present in water, air and soil. Arsenic is naturally occurring in the soil and the water. Fertilizers and pesticides also contribute to levels. Arsenic exists in two forms, organic and inorganic. When encountered in the diet, inorganic arsenic is considered to be the more toxic of the two forms. Rice has higher levels of inorganic arsenic than other foods, in part because as rice plants grow, the plant and grain tend to absorb arsenic from the environment more than other crops.”

Unfortunately, arsenic is not a lone wolf in this toxic attack. The Clean Label Project, also, discovered the toxic heavy metal cadmium in 58 percent of the products tested.

Romper reported:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked chronic exposure to cadmium to renal failure, respiratory diseases, developmental difficulties, cardiovascular disease, and skeletal lesions.”

Why is this industrial metal in our babies’ breakfast? It is released in the water and soil through mining, smelting, manufacturing, and burning fossil fuels.

The last notable chemical that will be discussed here is one we have all heard of because of its intense media coverage over the last decade, and that is BPA (Bisphenol-A).

According to Romper, “the study found that a full 60 percent of products which claimed to be BPA-free tested positive for BPA.”

It is appalling that a product that goes out of its way to list it is BPA free, would have BPA in it.

This toxin is more harmful to children than adults and can affect “birth weight, hormonal development, behavior and cancer risk in later life”, according to Healthline.

When shopping for your baby’s first meal take into consideration the research that was done, and choose one of the study’s top five safest product options:

  1. Happy Baby Oatmeal Organic Probiotic Cereal
  2. Beech-Nut Stage 2 Oatmeal & Mixed Fruit Baby Cereal Muesli
  3. Beech-Nut Stage 1 Single Grain Oatmeal Baby Cereal
  4. Beech-Nut Stage 2 Multigrain Baby Cereal
  5. Little Duck Organics Mighty Oats Cereal 5 Ancient Grains Naked Cereal

On the other side of the coin, it would be wise to stay clear of the study’s five worst product options, ranked for their toxic ingredient discoveries:

  1. Healthy Times Special Nourish Organic Brown Rice Cereal for Baby
  2. Organix Raspberry & Banana Muesli
  3. Gerber DHA & Probiotic Rice Cereal with Vitablocks
  4. Earth’s Best Organic Whole Grain Rice Cereal
  5. Parent’s Choice 1st Stage Rice Baby Cereal

It’s important to be informed as a parent to defend the health and wellness of your little one.

We must, also, keep manufacturers accountable to their contributions to the lives of the consumer.

Clean Label Project is working hard for label transparency to ensure your baby’s best interest is cared for. Stay up to date on their site to find the latest legislation and findings concerning our children’s food.

Please let us know in the comments section if your children have had an adverse reaction to a product ingredient that wasn’t listed on the label.