I read the article in text by a different source. There is no mention of brands or country of manufacture. Why would they not advise the public of that? Of course, since we're talking 95%, maybe it's just about EVERY brand no matter WHERE they were manufactured.
Thanks, JD. Of course I haven't bought baby food for about 40 years but the only two on those pages that I recognized were Gerber and Beech-Nut. Now WHERE they come from is the next question. There was an NT article recently that indicated that a lot of foods coming from China were tainted.
I looked up the two you mentioned. Found some info.
Once an American company based in Michigan, Gerber is now owned by Swiss company Nestle ( OTC:NSRGY ) . Although it retains some American factories -- for its infant formulas, for example -- the majority of Gerber baby food is produced outside the confines of the United States.
Nestle lists Poland, Venezuela, and Mexico as affiliated country websites that consumers can visit on its corporate page, implying that these are likely some of the manufacturing locations outside the United States.
Beech-Nut's has a 119 year history of processing food in Upstate New York. I didn’t see any info that suggested they process it elsewhere, so I am not 100% sure.
Ah yes! Who among us hasn't enjoyed a little pureed mercury?
Anyway . . .
This story smells like alarmist clickbait/ratings bait to me. Everybody worries about their babies, of course, but important details are missing and some of the claims are kind of nonsensical. Examples follow, of course:
They found that 95 percent of the baby foods were contaminated by at least one of the heavy metals, and one in four of the baby foods tested contained all four of the heavy metals.
OK, so? How much? Enough that it's a problem? How much would be too much? Dosage is critical. Do you need to eat 100,000 jars of this food before it actually impacts your baby's body or brain? Does anybody know?
The foods tested spanned 61 brands and 13 types of food
Foods that adults probably eat, too. I eat carrots and peas and whatnot. They just aren't pureed. I assume contaminants leak into all farms. I understand there may be separate issues with developing babies, but it's not like these foods all come from specially contaminated baby-food-only farms. But if you make it about baby food . . . more clicks.
All of the metals except mercury are known or probable human carcinogens .
Sure, but not in every dosage. Dosage matters. You probably have to consume the equivalent of 100,000 lifetimes worth of baby food before you have to worry about getting cancer from eating it. Otherwise, it would be pretty obvious and it would be pretty hard for baby food companies to stay in business - what with their customers dying and all.
The four metals are neurotoxic, posing serious threats to healthy childhood brain development.
Yeah? How serious? Is there a study? They don't really say.
A data analysis also commissioned by HBBF showed that American children ages 0 to 24 months have already lost more than 11 million IQ points from exposure to arsenic and lead in food.
What?
Wait.
What?
11 million IQ points? WTF does that even mean? No individual person has millions of IQ points. It's not measured that way. I guess you could say that 11 million individuals each lost 1 IQ point, but how would you know? Is this the "serious" damage? IQ tests are not even that accurate. And how would you prove it was caused by exposure to arsenic and lead and not something else? Are we talking about babies tested, given some toxic baby food, and then tested again? Or are we comparing generations? Did they take the same tests? Were the demographics the same?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
I read the article in text by a different source. There is no mention of brands or country of manufacture. Why would they not advise the public of that? Of course, since we're talking 95%, maybe it's just about EVERY brand no matter WHERE they were manufactured.
I saw your comment and thought why aren’t they giving that information. I went looking and found this.
Pages 22-31 list the brand, type of product, where it was purchased etc...
Looks like foods containing rice, carrots and sweet potatoes are the worst.
Thanks, JD. Of course I haven't bought baby food for about 40 years but the only two on those pages that I recognized were Gerber and Beech-Nut. Now WHERE they come from is the next question. There was an NT article recently that indicated that a lot of foods coming from China were tainted.
I looked up the two you mentioned. Found some info.
Once an American company based in Michigan, Gerber is now owned by Swiss company Nestle ( OTC:NSRGY ) . Although it retains some American factories -- for its infant formulas, for example -- the majority of Gerber baby food is produced outside the confines of the United States.
Nestle lists Poland, Venezuela, and Mexico as affiliated country websites that consumers can visit on its corporate page, implying that these are likely some of the manufacturing locations outside the United States.
Beech-Nut's has a 119 year history of processing food in Upstate New York. I didn’t see any info that suggested they process it elsewhere, so I am not 100% sure.
Happy Friday XD, that is a good question. Unfortunately the answer I cannot find.
Wow! How is my mother-in-law still alive and lucid at the age of 84? She was a farmer.
How did we ever make it to the age we're at now anyway .... with all this "Garbage" in our foods that is.
Cheetos dipped in dirt was great.
Ah yes! Who among us hasn't enjoyed a little pureed mercury?
Anyway . . .
This story smells like alarmist clickbait/ratings bait to me. Everybody worries about their babies, of course, but important details are missing and some of the claims are kind of nonsensical. Examples follow, of course:
OK, so? How much? Enough that it's a problem? How much would be too much? Dosage is critical. Do you need to eat 100,000 jars of this food before it actually impacts your baby's body or brain? Does anybody know?
Foods that adults probably eat, too. I eat carrots and peas and whatnot. They just aren't pureed. I assume contaminants leak into all farms. I understand there may be separate issues with developing babies, but it's not like these foods all come from specially contaminated baby-food-only farms. But if you make it about baby food . . . more clicks.
Sure, but not in every dosage. Dosage matters. You probably have to consume the equivalent of 100,000 lifetimes worth of baby food before you have to worry about getting cancer from eating it. Otherwise, it would be pretty obvious and it would be pretty hard for baby food companies to stay in business - what with their customers dying and all.
Yeah? How serious? Is there a study? They don't really say.
What?
Wait.
What?
11 million IQ points? WTF does that even mean? No individual person has millions of IQ points. It's not measured that way. I guess you could say that 11 million individuals each lost 1 IQ point, but how would you know? Is this the "serious" damage? IQ tests are not even that accurate. And how would you prove it was caused by exposure to arsenic and lead and not something else? Are we talking about babies tested, given some toxic baby food, and then tested again? Or are we comparing generations? Did they take the same tests? Were the demographics the same?
The whole statement is nonsense.