COLUMBUS, Oh. (CBS) — A new Congressional report finds more cases of baby food with high levels of dangerous toxic metals – like arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury. Some lawmakers are calling on the FDA to more strictly regulate the products.
Jay Highman, the founder and CEO of Nature’s One, which makes organic baby formula. Their ingredients are tested for heavy metal toxins before they even reach the building.
“It’s constant surveillance and testing and working with our suppliers,” Highman said.
he finished products are also periodically tested, but about ten years ago, it was a different story.
“We were the poster child for the first toxins identified in certain ingredients.”
In 2012, Nature’s One made headlines after a university study found arsenic in its organic baby formula. Highman says the commercial labs he used couldn’t test down to the lower levels in that study. It turned out, the arsenic was in an ingredient called brown rice syrup.
Since then, he’s dedicated himself to keeping toxins out. But as to other companies, the latest congressional report looking at toxins in baby foods says heavy metals are showing up in some major brands.