Baby Food Without Heavy Metals: What Tested Lowest in 2026
The 30 Second Summary
- Every store bought puree had microplastics in it, glass jars included. Consumer Reports counted particles in all 15 purees it checked in 2026, and the glass jars held 59,834 to 330,079 a serving, more than the lowest plastic pouch. The only puree we recommend is homemade, cooked and stored in glass or steel.
- No brand is clean across its whole range, but some of its products are. Every baby food has some metal, homemade included: Consumer Reports found lead in 41 of the 48 it tested in September 2026. Every brand we checked also sells something that failed, so buy the exact product, not the logo.
- Cereal: skip rice cereal. Blend One Degree's glyphosate tested sprouted oats into a powder, or buy Gerber's Organic Oatmeal Cereal, which tested clean for all four metals.
- Snacks: Beech-Nut Melties, Gerber Yogurt Melts and Gerber Puffs scored clean for every metal with no serving limit, and none is made from rice. Microplastics were not counted in dry snacks, so on that one they are unmeasured, not clean.
- Skip pouches. A baby sucks the puree through a plastic spout, and a pouch that keeps on a shelf has been heated in its plastic.
Every Baby Food Has Some Metal
In September 2026 Consumer Reports published its largest baby food round since 2018: 48 purees, puffs, cereals, teething biscuits and juices from 11 brands, two to four lots of each, bought by secret shoppers and sent to an accredited lab. Lead turned up in 41 of them, cadmium in 38 and inorganic arsenic in 37. A food where the lab found no lead is not metal free: the other two metals turned up nearly as often, and not detected means below the lab's limit, not zero.
The metals are not added in a factory. Lead, cadmium and arsenic sit in soil and irrigation water, from natural geology and from a century of leaded gasoline, pesticides and industry, and plants pull them up as they grow. That is why organic makes no consistent difference, which CR found again in 2026: the organic standard governs what a farmer sprays, not what was already in the ground. It is also why homemade food carries metal too. Healthy Babies Bright Futures found detectable metals in 94 percent of homemade purees in 2022, exactly the share of store bought baby food.
The reassuring number is the one that follows. 96 percent of what CR tested sat below the level of concern it sets for a child under two eating up to three servings a day, where in its 2018 round roughly two thirds did not. So the useful question is which foods carry more, and the answer to that is the same whichever brand is on the label.
Every Puree Had Microplastics, Glass Jars Included
Consumer Reports counted microplastic particles in 15 store bought purees in 2026, and every one of them had particles in it. That includes the glass jars. Beech-Nut's jars held 59,834 to 330,079 particles a serving, more than the lowest plastic pouch at 17,177. Glass itself sheds nothing, so the particles most likely come from the plastic liner under the metal lid and from the processing line the food runs through before it is sealed. Switching from a pouch to a jar on the shelf moves the exposure; it does not remove it.
No regulator sets a limit for particles in food, and nobody yet knows what a given count means for a baby. What is known is that the only puree with no packaging plastic in its history is the one you make. That is why homemade is the only puree we recommend, and why the setup below is glass and steel from the pot to the freezer.
Which Foods Carry the Most, and the Least
Rice is grown in flooded fields, where arsenic dissolves and moves into the grain more readily than in any other crop. Root vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes grow inside the soil and take up lead and cadmium, and leafy greens such as spinach collect cadmium. When Healthy Babies Bright Futures tested 288 foods in 2022, its ten most contaminated were almost all rice and snacks, and its ten least contaminated were fruit, squash, meat and eggs.
Snacks are the overlooked category. A puff, a melt or a rusk is mostly rice or grain with the water baked out, so whatever metal was in the grain ends up concentrated in a light, dry piece a baby eats by the handful, and CR found snacks carried more arsenic, cadmium and lead than purees. Be wary of a snack's clean score, too. CR judges each product per serving, and a serving of puffs is 7 grams against 113 for a jar, so a puff can score well while carrying more metal per gram than the puree it beat.
Four Swaps That Cut the Most
Since the metal travels with the food, the biggest reduction comes from which foods go on the spoon and how often. Four habits do most of the work:
- Swap rice cereal for oatmeal. It is the single biggest reduction there is, and the FDA advises against relying on rice as a baby's main grain. Oats raise a different question, glyphosate, so choose oats tested for it: One Degree's sprouted rolled oats carry a BioChecked glyphosate residue certification and blend into a baby cereal in a minute, and our glyphosate guide covers the rest.
- Make rice snacks occasional. Rice cakes, rice puffs and rusks top every contamination ranking and sit outside every federal limit. Soft fruit, avocado, banana and well cooked vegetables cut into strips do the same job for a baby learning to self feed.
- Rotate the vegetables, and peel the roots. Sweet potatoes and carrots are nutritious and worth serving; they are a problem only when they are every meal. Peeling removes part of the metal, and rotating with squash, peas, apples, pears and green beans spreads the rest.
- Skip juice. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises no juice before age one, and water is the better drink after it.
Make It at Home in Glass and Steel
Homemade does not lower the metal, because the metal arrives with the carrot. What it does is let you pick the carrot, and take the plastic out entirely. Every store bought puree carried microplastics, so this is the one way to serve a puree with none from its packaging.
The setup is simple. Steam in a stainless basket, blend, and freeze portions in glass or food grade silicone, then thaw in glass. Our guide to microplastics in baby food has the full setup, and the plastic inside your glass jar lid explains why a jar is not automatically plastic free.
The Products That Tested Clean, by Category
No brand is clean across its whole range. Every brand in this article sells at least one product that failed a check, from a rice cereal over FDA's arsenic level to a pouch heated in its plastic. But several of those same brands make individual products that cleared every check, so these picks are products, not brands. Buy the exact item named: the flavor beside it on the shelf does not share its result.
Cereal
Oatmeal is the swap for rice cereal. One Degree's sprouted oats are the pick because they also carry a glyphosate residue certification; blend them dry into a powder and cook with water or breast milk. If you want a ready made infant cereal, Gerber's single grain Organic Oatmeal Cereal scored below Consumer Reports' level of concern for lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury in 2026, with no serving limit. It carries no glyphosate certification, and Gerber's flavored oatmeals are different products with their own results.
One Degree Organics Sprouted Rolled Oats
Organic sprouted rolled oats, certified glyphosate residue free by BioChecked. Blend dry into a fine powder for a first cereal. Oats carry far less arsenic than rice.
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Gerber Organic Oatmeal Cereal
Organic whole grain oat flour with added iron, dry in a plastic canister. Below Consumer Reports' concern level for all four metals in 2026, no serving limit. No glyphosate certification.
View →Puree
We recommend no store bought puree. Every one Consumer Reports counted carried microplastics, glass jars included, so the only puree we stand behind is the one you make, cooked and stored in glass or steel. The setup is a steamer basket, a blender and a freezer tray.
Snacks
Snacks are where metal concentrates, which makes these six stand out: every one scored below Consumer Reports' level of concern for all four metals in 2026, with no serving limit, and none is made from rice. CR scores per serving and a serving of puffs is small, so they are still snacks rather than a meal. The three Gerber snacks list a natural flavor, and the two Earth's Best snacks are labelled for age two and up. Consumer Reports did not count microplastics in dry snacks, so on that one they are unmeasured rather than clean, though a dry food picks up far less from its packaging than a wet puree.
Beech-Nut Melties, Banana Blueberry & Green Bean
Freeze dried banana, apple, blueberry, peach and green bean, with chicory fiber and beet color. Scored excellent for every metal, bisphenols, phthalates and PFAS in Consumer Reports' 2026 round.
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Gerber Yogurt Melts, Strawberry
Freeze dried yogurt with strawberry puree, sugar and tapioca starch, in a resealable film pouch. Below Consumer Reports' concern level for every metal, no serving limit. Lists a natural strawberry flavor.
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Gerber Puffs, Strawberry Apple
Whole grain sorghum puffs, not rice, with cane sugar and a natural strawberry apple flavor, in a plastic canister. Below Consumer Reports' concern level for every metal, no serving limit.
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Gerber Lil' Crunchies, Mild Cheddar
Baked sorghum and corn meal with a cheddar seasoning, in a plastic canister. Below Consumer Reports' concern level for every metal, no serving limit. The seasoning lists a natural cheddar flavor.
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Earth's Best Organic Veggie Puffs, Original
Organic corn puffs with sweet potato, tomato, carrot and spinach powders, labelled for age two and up. Scored excellent on every metal and plastic chemical in Consumer Reports' 2026 round.
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Earth's Best Letter of the Day Cookies, Oatmeal Cinnamon
Organic wheat and oat flour cookies with cane sugar and raisin paste, labelled for age two and up. Scored excellent on every metal and plastic chemical, no serving limit.
View →Every brand in this article has a product by product entry in our Product Check, with the lab numbers drawn against the limits. Type a baby food in there and you get the verdict and the reason in ten seconds.
Why We Do Not Recommend Pouches
A pouch puts together everything that moves the most out of a plastic. One that keeps on a shelf has been heat treated in its plastic, since that is what makes it shelf stable. It usually holds acidic fruit. And a baby sucks the puree straight through a plastic spout. Consumer Reports counted microplastic particles in every pouch it counted in 2026, and the lowest still held 17,177. A refrigerated, cold pressed pouch removes the heat but not the spout, and we do not recommend anything a child drinks or sucks through plastic.
Pouches are popular because they travel, and the same food travels fine without one. Spoon it from a small glass jar or a steel container, or offer soft finger foods from the low metal list. Our microplastics in baby food guide covers containers for days out.
The Scorecard
Every brand we researched for this article, product by product, rolled up to the brand, so a brand row shows its worst products, not its picks. A flag means an adverse finding on that check, not a safety violation.
| Brand | Best independent metals result | Packaging | Recalls and lawsuits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little Spoon | Five Babyblends non detect at 5 ppb | Plastic cup; microplastics found | None on record for the Babyblends |
| Once Upon a Farm | One pouch non detect; kale pouch 21 ppb cadmium | Plastic pouch, spout in the mouth | Lead notice on its pouch line; bar recall |
| Gerber | Organic oatmeal scored clean; rice cereal 63 ppb arsenic | Heated pouches and trays | Rice cereal over FDA level; Texas suit |
| Beech-Nut | Sweet potato jar 24.1 ppb lead | Jars up to 330,079 particles | 2021 rice cereal recall; open lead complaint |
| Earth's Best | Cereal cadmium 12 to 24 ppb, own data | Heated pouches | Class action narrowed to arsenic |
| Happy Baby | Puffs 234 ppb arsenic | Heated pouches | Sold every product it tested, 2021 |
| Plum Organics | Snacks 11 to 21 ppb lead, own data | Heated pouches | Cadmium notice, 2025 |
| Serenity Kids | Puffs up to 30 ppb lead | Heated pouches | 2021 lead settlement |
| Cerebelly | Bar 23 ppb cadmium | Heated pouches | Two settled lead cases |
| Pumpkin Tree | No published clean result | Heated pouches | Open recall for plastic strips |
| Parent's Choice | Rusks 26.9 ppb lead | Tub at 814,589 particles | 2021 rice cereal recall |
| Good & Gather | Puree above CR's arsenic concern | Heated pouches | 2025 lead recall |
| Sprout Organics | Puffs 39.3 ppb lead | Heated pouches | 2025 lead recall |
| Baby Mum-Mum | High BPA in banana wafers | Dry wafer, sealed wrap | Settled arsenic notice |
What to Avoid From Each Brand
None of these brands is clean across its range, and each card names what failed. Where a brand also makes a product above, the card says so. Not one of these is a reason to panic about a jar already eaten; nearly everything here sits under FDA's levels.
Little Spoon
Little Spoon has the best metals results of any prepared puree: Lead Safe Mama found five Babyblends non detect for lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury at 5 ppb in 2024, in tests Little Spoon paid for. But Consumer Reports found microplastics in its Pear Babyblend in 2026, and limited it to one serving a day for inorganic arsenic. The cup is plastic, PET or polypropylene by the maker's own two answers, and it holds fruit and lemon juice. Its Purple Carrot blend read 6 ppb cadmium and its Kale Apple Curls puffs 12 ppb lead.
Once Upon a Farm
Its refrigerated pouches are cold pressed rather than heated, and Lead Safe Mama found its OhMyMega Veggie pouch non detect for all four metals in August 2025. Every product is still a plastic pouch a child sucks through a spout, and its Green Kale & Apples pouch from the same order read 21 ppb cadmium, which she reported to FDA. A 2025 Proposition 65 notice alleges lead in its Fruit and Veggie pouch line, and every Tractor Wheels bar was recalled for a choking hazard on 30 October 2026.
Gerber
In 2021 Alaska's state lab measured 116 and 101 ppb inorganic arsenic in two lots of Gerber's rice cereal, above FDA's 100 ppb level; Gerber recalled neither, saying FDA could not confirm the result. Consumer Reports still found 63 ppb in 2026 and limits it to half a serving a day. The heat processed Plant Protein pouch and Yellow Rice tray read as packaging failures, and on 9 October 2026 Texas sued Gerber and Nestlé USA over its safety and testing claims, an allegation. Its Organic Oatmeal Cereal, Yogurt Melts, Puffs and Lil' Crunchies tested clean and are picks above.
Beech-Nut
Healthy Babies Bright Futures measured 24.1 ppb lead in Beech-Nut's Stage 2 Sweet Potato jar in 2019, above the 20 ppb FDA later set for single root vegetables, and CR's 2026 round still limited the jar for lead. The glass jars carried 59,834 to 330,079 microplastic particles in CR's count, and the Turkey pouch 680,295. Beech-Nut recalled its rice cereal in 2021 after Alaska found arsenic above FDA's level, then left the category. A lead complaint over its Zucchini, Spinach & Banana pouch was filed in August 2026. Its Melties tested clean for every metal and plastic chemical and are a pick above.
Earth's Best
Earth's Best publishes its results, and they read against it: every recent lot of its Organic Oatmeal Cereal shows 12.5 to 24.1 ppb cadmium and its Multigrain 12.9 to 19.5, against a 5 ppb bar. Healthy Babies Bright Futures found 20.1 ppb cadmium and 27 ppb inorganic arsenic in the oatmeal in 2019. CR scored both cereals clean per serving, which is the snack and cereal nuance above. The oats carry no glyphosate certification, the Apple Sweet Potato pouch is heat processed in plastic with 113,520 particles counted, and the parent company's class action now turns on arsenic alone. Its Veggie Puffs and Letter of the Day Cookies tested clean and are picks above.
Happy Baby
The February 2021 House report found that Nurture, Happy Baby's maker, sold every product it tested, including puffs at 180 ppb inorganic arsenic and a product at 641 ppb lead. Lead Safe Mama measured 234 ppb arsenic, 11 ppb cadmium and 9 ppb lead in its Superfood Puffs in 2024; that flavor is discontinued. The shelf stable pouches are pasteurized in the plastic, and the clean results claimed for two HappyTot pouches were never published. CR scored the Yogis melts and the HappyTot oat bar below concern in 2026.
Plum Organics
Plum's own results show 11 to 21 ppb lead in all seven published lots of its Teensy Snacks with Puffed Quinoa, the same snack CR scored clean per serving, and 6 to 11 ppb cadmium in every lot of its Mighty Snack Bars. CR limited the Apple + Carrot pouch to two a day for lead and counted 238,148 particles in it. A 2025 Proposition 65 notice alleges cadmium in the Apple, Spinach + Avocado pouch. In 2021 its then owner, Campbell, declined to give the House its data. The consumer class action ended in Plum's favor in April 2025.
Serenity Kids
CR limited the Sweet Potato & Spinach pouch to one a day for inorganic arsenic and lead, and found phthalates and 17,177 microplastic particles in it; the same pouch was the subject of a 2021 lead settlement and of new notices in 2026. Lead Safe Mama measured 13, 24 and 30 ppb lead in three flavors of its cassava puffs in 2024, plus 42 ppb mercury in Tomato & Herb, and those puffs have since been replaced. Its Clean Label Project Purity Award ranks a product against its category on results that are not published, so it does not show a product is clean.
Cerebelly
Lead Safe Mama found 23 ppb cadmium and 28 ppb arsenic in Cerebelly's Smart Bar in 2024, and 6 ppb lead with 10 ppb arsenic in its Purple Carrot Blueberry smoothie pouch in 2025. CR limited its bone broth puree to one serving a day for inorganic arsenic and detected the phthalate DEHP. Two Proposition 65 cases alleging lead in its Spinach Apple Sweet Potato puree settled, in 2021 and 2024, and two newer notices are open. It does publish lot by lot results, which is to its credit.
Pumpkin Tree
Pumpkin Tree's Peter Rabbit Organics Banana & Strawberry pouch has been under an FDA Class II recall since July 2026, because a defective run of pouches could shed thin strips of plastic into the food. Its Apple, Pea & Spinach pouch was named in a lead case that settled in February 2026 and in a second notice still open. The clean result claimed for its pear pouch was never published, so no detection limit can be read.
Parent's Choice
Walmart's store brand recalled three lots of rice cereal in October 2021 after FDA sampling found inorganic arsenic above its level. Its Organic Strawberry Rice Rusks measured 26.9 ppb lead and 66 ppb inorganic arsenic in 2019 and are still sold. CR counted about 814,589 microplastic particles in a single Stage 1 Carrot tub, the highest figure it published, and limited the tub for lead. The House reported in 2021 that Walmart had raised its own arsenic limit from 23 to 100 ppb.
Good & Gather
Target's store brand recalled 25,600 tubs of its Pea, Zucchini, Kale & Thyme puree for lead in March 2025, made by Fruselva in Colombia; FDA never published the level. CR found 5.7 ppb inorganic arsenic in the Banana, Peach & Apricot tub, one of two products above its level of concern, and limits it to one a day. Target's own results show up to 8 ppb lead in its Apple Mango Spinach pouch. Target does post those results without a lot code, which more brands should copy.
Sprout Organics
Sprout recalled its Sweet Potato Apple & Spinach pouches for lead in September 2025, then expanded the recall to four lots and 9,873 cases; the level was never published. Healthy Babies Bright Futures measured 39.3 ppb lead and 41.5 ppb cadmium in its Quinoa Puffs in 2019. Sprout ignored the House's first request for data in 2021, and the committee's second report criticized the testing it later produced.
Baby Mum-Mum
CR found high BPA in all three lots of Baby Mum-Mum's banana teething wafers in 2026, enough to limit them to half a serving a week, the only product in its round with a bisphenol problem. The vegetable wafers are limited to one a day for inorganic arsenic. These are rice rusks: Healthy Babies Bright Futures measured 104 ppb total arsenic and 53 ppb inorganic in the banana wafers in 2019, and a Proposition 65 case over arsenic in the organic sweet potato wafers settled in 2024.
The Limits, and What They Leave Out
In January 2025 the FDA finalized action levels for lead in food for children under two: 10 ppb for fruits, vegetables, mixtures, yogurts and meats, and 20 ppb for single ingredient root vegetables and dry infant cereals. On 22 October 2026 it proposed cadmium levels of 10 ppb for most purees, with comments open until 22 December. Infant rice cereal has carried a 100 ppb inorganic arsenic level since 2020. Our own bar for anything a baby eats is stricter, 5 ppb lead, the level proposed in the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021.
Notice the gap. Both the lead guidance and the cadmium proposal exempt snack foods, grain based and freeze dried alike, so the category that tests highest has no number at all. The FDA levels are also guidance rather than law, and the agency states that no level of lead exposure is known to be safe for children. One rule does help parents directly. Since January 2025 California's AB 899 has required every brand selling baby food there to publish monthly results for all four metals, reached by a QR code on the label, so you can look up a flavor before you buy it.
What the Lawsuits Settled
The 2021 House reports set off a wave of litigation, and the biggest piece of it ended this autumn. In the federal cases claiming heavy metals in baby food caused autism or ADHD, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley excluded the plaintiffs' general causation experts in February 2026, finding no study linking baby food itself to either condition, and on 14 October 2026 she granted the makers summary judgment for every case filed by 21 November 2025. She authorized an immediate appeal, and claims over other injuries, such as lower IQ, continue.
That ruling decided that these experts could not connect baby food to autism with the evidence they offered. It did not find the metals harmless, and the science on lead and childhood development stands where it was: no known safe level. Recalls tell the clearer story, and they keep coming: the 2023 cinnamon applesauce pouches that poisoned hundreds of children, a GreenWise pouch pulled in May 2025, and the lead recalls named above. Our lead tested cinnamon guide covers how that one happened.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which baby food brands have no heavy metals?
No brand is clean across its whole range, and no food is metal free: Consumer Reports found lead in 41 of the 48 store bought baby foods it tested in September 2026. But specific products tested clean. For cereal, Gerber's Organic Oatmeal Cereal, or One Degree's glyphosate certified sprouted oats blended at home. For puree, make it at home: every store bought puree Consumer Reports counted had microplastics, glass jars included. For snacks, Beech-Nut Melties, Gerber Yogurt Melts, Puffs and Lil' Crunchies, and for toddlers Earth's Best Veggie Puffs and Letter of the Day Cookies.
Do glass baby food jars have microplastics?
Yes. Consumer Reports counted microplastic particles in every store bought puree it checked in 2026, and Beech-Nut's glass jars held 59,834 to 330,079 particles a serving, more than the lowest plastic pouch at 17,177. Glass itself sheds nothing, so the particles most likely come from the plastic liner under the lid and from the processing line. A jar still avoids heating puree in plastic, but it does not make a store bought puree plastic free. Homemade, cooked and stored in glass or steel, is the only way to control it.
Is organic baby food lower in heavy metals?
No. Organic certification governs pesticides and fertilizer, and lead, cadmium and arsenic are already in the soil and the water. Consumer Reports found no consistent difference between organic and conventional baby food in its 2026 round. Organic still matters for pesticides. For metals, the kind of food matters far more than the label: rice, root vegetables and dry snacks carry the most, while bananas, squash, apples, meats and eggs carry the least.
Is homemade baby food safer than store bought?
For metals, not automatically. Healthy Babies Bright Futures tested 288 foods in 2022 and found detectable metals in 94 percent of store bought baby food and 94 percent of homemade purees. The metal comes in with the vegetable, not the factory. Homemade does two things a jar cannot: it lets you choose the low metal foods and rotate them, and it removes the plastic, since every packaged puree Consumer Reports counted carried microplastic particles. Cook and store in glass or steel and you control both.
Are baby food pouches safe?
They are the format we recommend against. A pouch that keeps on a shelf has been heat treated in its plastic, usually holds acidic fruit, and a baby sucks it through a plastic spout, which is the combination that moves the most out of a plastic. Consumer Reports found microplastic particles in every puree it counted in 2026. A refrigerated, cold pressed pouch removes the heat but not the spout. Spoon the same food from a glass jar or a steel container instead.
Is rice cereal safe for babies?
Rice takes up arsenic from flooded fields more than any other grain, and infant rice cereal is the one baby food with a federal arsenic limit, 100 ppb inorganic arsenic, set in 2020. Two brands have recalled rice cereal over it, and Consumer Reports still measured 63 ppb in a rice cereal in 2026, enough to limit it to half a serving a day. Infant oatmeal is the easy swap, and choosing oats with a Glyphosate Residue Free certification answers the other question grains raise.
What happened to the baby food autism lawsuits?
The federal cases claiming heavy metals in baby food caused autism or ADHD lost. In February 2026 Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley excluded the plaintiffs' general causation experts, and on 14 October 2026 she granted the makers summary judgment on those claims for every case filed by 21 November 2025, while authorizing an immediate appeal. Claims over other injuries continue. The ruling is about whether the experts could tie baby food to autism, not a finding that the metals are harmless; lead has no known safe level for children.
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