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Is your baby’s food
Is your baby’s food
actually safe?
A new California law forced baby-food brands to test every lot for lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury.
They tried to make it hard to see the data. I unlocked it for everyone to see.
I turned 18,124 test results into a 60-second quiz to teach you not just what brands did best and worst, but what ingredients to love, and what ones to stay away from.
- Lots tested
- 18,124
- Failed at least once
- 13.1%
- Brands audited
- 32
- To check yours
- 60 sec
The cleanest, and the worst.
Ranked by share of lots that exceeded at least one action level under AB 899 (lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury). Only brands with ≥ 100 lots in the dataset qualify.
Cleanest 10
lowest failure rate, 100+ lots
01
Once Upon a Farm
2.1%fail
02
Cerebelly
2.8%fail
03
Serenity Kids
3.1%fail
04
Little Spoon
3.5%fail
05
Amara
4.2%fail
06
Yumi
4.8%fail
07
Tiny Organics
5.6%fail
08
Square Baby
6.4%fail
09
Happy Family Organics
7.8%fail
10
Sprout Organics
9.1%fail
Includes direct-to-consumer and organic-leaning brands. “Worst” = the metal with the highest share of failed lots.
Worst 10
highest failure rate, 100+ lots
01
Earth’s Best Organic
24.6%fail
02
Beech-Nut
22.3%fail
03
Plum Organics
20.9%fail
04
Gerber
18.7%fail
05
Parent’s Choice (Walmart)
17.2%fail
06
HappyBaby (rice lines)
16.1%fail
07
Nurture Life
14.8%fail
08
Nestlé / Cerelac
14.1%fail
09
Bobo’s Oat Bars (kids)
13.6%fail
10
Enfamil (reconstituted)
12.8%fail
Rice-based products, teething biscuits, and leafy-green purees carry the highest per-category failure rates.
the 60-second diet audit
Is your baby’s diet safe?
Eight questions, brand, frequency, age, product mix, and we calculate an estimated daily heavy-metal exposure (µg/day) for your specific feeding pattern. Then we recommend three concrete swaps and email the full breakdown.
What's actually in the food, by metal.
Brands aren't the right unit of analysis. Ingredients are. A rice-based puff and an oat-based puff from the same brand tell completely different stories. Below, the full 18,124-lot dataset broken out for each of the four regulated metals, click a metal to expand.
Sorted by fail rate (share of lots that exceeded that metal's AB-899 action level). "Peak ppb" = the single worst test value across all lots.
🟥 Lead (Pb), 15 ingredients
Lead accumulates from soil residue (leaded gasoline era, historic paint, industrial fallout). Root vegetables, tubers, and dried ingredients concentrate it more than fresh fruits.
| Ingredient | Lots | Fail rate | Peak ppb | Worst lot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sunflower Seed 1 brand |
8 |
75.0% |
13.0 ppb | sprout_organics Smash Bar Made with Banana, Plant-Based Protein, a |
|
Fig 1 brand |
12 |
58.3% |
84.0 ppb | Babylife Organics 112026-Raspberry & Fig Oat Bar |
|
Trail Mix 1 brand |
2 |
50.0% |
28.1 ppb | mission_mightyme Trail Mix - Organic Peanut Butter Strawberry |
|
Almond 2 brands |
37 |
13.5% |
20.8 ppb | puffworks Baby Organic Almond Butter Puffs 0.5 oz |
|
Nut Butter 4 brands |
217 |
11.5% |
28.1 ppb | mission_mightyme Trail Mix - Organic Peanut Butter Strawberry |
|
Peanut 4 brands |
176 |
11.4% |
28.1 ppb | mission_mightyme Trail Mix - Organic Peanut Butter Strawberry |
|
Puff 7 brands |
544 |
6.8% |
65.8 ppb | Yumi Strawberry & Basil Rice Free Puffs |
|
Pea 16 brands |
339 |
6.5% |
47.6 ppb | Yumi Berry & Sweet Pea Rice Free Puffs- Canister |
|
Bar 8 brands |
312 |
6.4% |
84.0 ppb | Babylife Organics 112026-Raspberry & Fig Oat Bar |
|
Elderberry 1 brand |
64 |
6.2% |
22.0 ppb | once_upon_a_farm Apple, Cherry & Elderberry Immunity Blend |
|
Teether 2 brands |
428 |
6.1% |
35.0 ppb | Happy Baby Organics Happy Baby Teethers Pea & Spinach Teethers |
|
Broccoli 7 brands |
143 |
5.6% |
57.8 ppb | Yumi Apple Broccoli Rice Free Puffs- Canister |
|
Snack Crunch 5 brands |
1173 |
5.4% |
19.0 ppb | little_bellies Organic Cinnamon Bun Softcorn |
|
Raspberry 9 brands |
435 |
4.8% |
84.0 ppb | Babylife Organics 112026-Raspberry & Fig Oat Bar |
|
Cherry 2 brands |
83 |
4.8% |
22.0 ppb | once_upon_a_farm Apple, Cherry & Elderberry Immunity Blend |
What to do: Rotate ingredients. Avoid monotonous cinnamon / cassava / sweet-potato diets. Prefer fresh whole food over processed purees where you know the supply chain.
🟧 Arsenic (As), 15 ingredients
Inorganic arsenic comes from irrigation water and paddy cultivation. Rice is the dominant source, rice plants are exceptionally good at pulling arsenic out of flooded groundwater.
| Ingredient | Lots | Fail rate | Peak ppb | Worst lot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Rusk Rice Cake 1 brand |
76 |
100% |
98.7 ppb | aldi_little_journey Little Journey® Rice Rusks Apple |
|
Fig 1 brand |
12 |
100% |
15.4 ppb | Babylife Organics 112026-Raspberry & Fig Oat Bar |
|
Teether 2 brands |
428 |
99.1% |
137.0 ppb | Happy Baby Organics Happy Baby Teethers Sweet Potato & Banana Teethers |
|
Amaranth 2 brands |
136 |
98.5% |
82.1 ppb | Happy Baby Organics Happy Baby Teether Crackers Strawberry & Beet with |
|
Rice 5 brands |
132 |
71.2% |
98.7 ppb | aldi_little_journey Little Journey® Rice Rusks Apple |
|
Almond 2 brands |
37 |
67.6% |
35.1 ppb | puffworks Baby Organic Almond Butter Puffs 1.0 oz |
|
Turmeric 3 brands |
33 |
27.3% |
34.7 ppb | serenity_kids Pouch, Sweet Potato Turmeric with Organic Coconut |
|
Bar 8 brands |
312 |
23.1% |
21.0 ppb | beechnut Strawberry Oaty Bars |
|
Nut Butter 4 brands |
217 |
21.7% |
35.1 ppb | puffworks Baby Organic Almond Butter Puffs 1.0 oz |
|
Beet 14 brands |
868 |
17.7% |
82.1 ppb | Happy Baby Organics Happy Baby Teether Crackers Strawberry & Beet with |
|
Sweet Potato 18 brands |
1963 |
17.7% |
137.0 ppb | Happy Baby Organics Happy Baby Teethers Sweet Potato & Banana Teethers |
|
Potato 19 brands |
1968 |
17.7% |
137.0 ppb | Happy Baby Organics Happy Baby Teethers Sweet Potato & Banana Teethers |
|
Wheat 1 brand |
108 |
16.7% |
32.0 ppb | Nestum/Cerelac Wheat Cereal with Milk |
|
Cereal 8 brands |
755 |
16.0% |
95.0 ppb | Nestum/Cerelac Nestum 3 Cereals 14.1 oz Canister |
|
Puff 7 brands |
544 |
15.6% |
35.1 ppb | puffworks Baby Organic Almond Butter Puffs 1.0 oz |
What to do: Diversify grains. Swap plain rice cereal for oatmeal, quinoa, or barley. If you use rice, vary the brand AND the origin.
🟨 Cadmium (Cd), 8 ingredients
Cadmium is taken up by leafy greens, seeds, and cocoa (most naturally cadmium-accumulating plant category). Fertilizer application of phosphates also pushes soil Cd up over decades.
| Ingredient | Lots | Fail rate | Peak ppb | Worst lot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sunflower Seed 1 brand |
8 |
75.0% |
79.0 ppb | sprout_organics Smash Bar Made with Banana, Plant-Based Protein, a |
|
Bar 8 brands |
312 |
1.9% |
79.0 ppb | sprout_organics Smash Bar Made with Banana, Plant-Based Protein, a |
|
Peanut 4 brands |
176 |
1.1% |
46.7 ppb | mission_mightyme Organic Peanut Butter Strawberry |
|
Nut Butter 4 brands |
217 |
0.9% |
46.7 ppb | mission_mightyme Organic Peanut Butter Strawberry |
|
Beet 14 brands |
868 |
0.2% |
45.0 ppb | once_upon_a_farm Strawberry, Pumpkin & Beet Tractor Wheels |
|
Banana 22 brands |
3988 |
0.2% |
79.0 ppb | sprout_organics Smash Bar Made with Banana, Plant-Based Protein, a |
|
Pumpkin Squash 17 brands |
1412 |
0.1% |
45.0 ppb | once_upon_a_farm Strawberry, Pumpkin & Beet Tractor Wheels |
|
Strawberry 17 brands |
2353 |
0.1% |
46.7 ppb | mission_mightyme Organic Peanut Butter Strawberry |
What to do: Cadmium deserves more attention than lead in food, detected in 61% of FDA TDS samples vs 15% for lead. See the realist’s guide to cadmium in food.
⬛ Mercury (Hg), 2 ingredients
Methylmercury bioaccumulates in predator fish (tuna, swordfish, king mackerel) and is rare in land-grown crops. When it shows up in baby food, it’s traced to fish-containing formulas or cross-contamination at shared facilities.
| Ingredient | Lots | Fail rate | Peak ppb | Worst lot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mango 17 brands |
1322 |
0.1% |
17.8 ppb | amara Mango Carrot |
|
Carrot 20 brands |
1405 |
0.1% |
17.8 ppb | amara Mango Carrot |
What to do: Avoid high-mercury fish for children under 2. Mercury guide.
Source: AB 899 lot-level data across 32 brands, September 2024 , April 2026. Full methodology, brand-level breakdown, and format cross-cuts: the long study.
Let’s check your house too.
Given what you told us, your baby’s total lead exposure is probably bigger than food alone. Two more quick paths, then come back to food with confidence.
quiz, 90 sec
Map your home-exposure risk
Year built, paint history, dishware, water source, job exposures. Get a calibrated risk read and a to-do list ranked by impact.
deep dive
The Lead Framework
Where lead lives in a house, how to find it, how to abate it properly (not the way that makes it worse). The full field guide.
Leave lead in the past. Test what they eat, test what they touch, fix what’s fixable. Then get on with life.
Get the FluoroSpec kit, 10% off →close the loop
End lead poisoning in your household today.
Understand your diet, your risk at home, and learn how to leave lead in the past.
I make FluoroSpec. I use digital technology to put every bit of lead knowledge I have to work keeping you as safe as humanly possible. , Eric Ritter
$75 kit · 10% off with SPIN10 · Double Kit upgrade offered at checkout
The ingredient guide in 5 lines.
- Five ingredient categories drive most failures. Rice, sweet potato, carrot, leafy greens, and oat-based products top the list. These ingredients absorb metals through soil, not processing.
- Rice-based products, teething biscuits, and leafy-green purees have the highest per-category failure rates. If your baby eats these daily, the cumulative dose adds up fast.
- The cleanest categories are fruit purees, legume-based foods, and fresh-only blends. Brands that center fresh ingredients and skip grain-heavy formulations tend to have the lowest failure rates.
- The 60-second diet audit estimates your baby’s daily heavy-metal exposure. Answer 8 questions about brand, frequency, and age, and get a dose estimate compared to the FDA Interim Reference Level.
- You can reduce exposure without switching every product. Rotating out the highest-risk ingredients a few times per week cuts cumulative dose significantly for most feeding patterns.
lead database / baby food (48,279 records) →
the underlying database that powers this analysis. raw rows, all sources, sortable by metal and µg/kg, downloadable as CSV under CC-BY-SA.
i made these. they are free.
six tools my family uses to keep our kid under the fda action threshold. type your email. you get all six on this page in two seconds.
- 1. Baby-Proof Lead Risk Calculatoran 8-question read of your house. returns a risk band you can defend to a pediatrician.
- 2. Blood Lead Calculator1,370 foods scored by purity labs with icp-ms. type what your kid ate this week, get µg/day vs the fda irl.
- 3. Baby Food Database18,000 lots, updated daily. search by brand, ingredient, lot.
- 4. Baby Bottle Review Sheetevery bottle on the market scored on lead and the substances that show up next to it.
- 5. Leaducational Pages2,165 dishes scanned with a niton xl5 plus, sorted by brand and pattern.
- 6. Lead Framework Book106 pages. learn, examine, abate, detox, live. the parent protocol that runs the whole house.
here you go. six things, one tab each.
i copied your email to the list. the first email lands in a couple minutes. open the pack below now.
- 1. Baby-Proof Lead Risk Calculatoran 8-question read of your house and a band you can defend to a pediatrician.open →
- 2. Blood Lead Calculator1,370 foods scored by purity labs with icp-ms.open →
- 3. Baby Food Database18,000 lots. search by brand, ingredient, lot.open →
- 4. Baby Bottle Review Sheetevery bottle on the market scored on lead.open →
- 5. Leaducational Pages2,165 dishes scanned with a niton xl5 plus.open →
- 6. Lead Framework Book106 pages. learn, examine, abate, detox, live.open →
bookmark this page. the database and the leaducational pages update almost every day. the bottle sheet and the dish list grow as the lab finishes new runs.
or, if you want, grab a kit.
the information is free. the kit is for parents who, after reading the framework, decide they want to walk around the nursery with a drop bottle tonight. one drop of fluoro-spec on the painted side of a plate. if it's lead, it glows green in seconds. no lab.
see the drip kit, $50 →