A new California law will tell parents more about toxic metals in baby food in 2025.
The law, called Assembly Bill 899 and signed by the governor in 2023, started requiring in 2024 that all baby food is tested monthly for heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury.
But starting in 2025, all baby food sold, delivered or held in California will have a scannable QR code that takes shoppers to a website showing how many heavy metals are in the food.
Parents should pick baby food options with the lowest amount of toxic metals, but still should be careful about reading the levels since it takes high exposure to result in problems such as learning, behavior and attention issues, said pediatrician Chandani DeZure, a medical advisor at parenting website BabyCenter.
"Lower values are better, but overall a diet full of fresh vegetables, fruits, and varied grains, whether store-bought or premade, will be the nutritionally optimal choice," she said.
Still, DeZure said it isn't realistic to expect no toxic metals in baby food, or any food for that matter.
"A diet with a variety of foods is more important than eliminating certain higher heavy metal foods," she said. "And if you can, try to buy organic. This won’t necessarily reduce exposure to heavy metals, but the fruits and vegetables may have lower levels of pesticides and other chemicals."