Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Gerber Products Company and its parent company, Nestlé USA, Inc., accusing them of misleading parents about the safety of baby food and the heavy metals contained in it.
The lawsuit was filed on Octo 9 in a district court in Collin County, Texas. Paxton alleged that Gerber marketed its products as safe, pure and rigorously tested despite internal testing showing elevated levels of arsenic, lead, and cadmium in certain ingredients. Paxton announced the legal action on Octo 14. The lawsuit is seeking more than $10 million in civil penalties. Paxton started investigation into baby food companies back in 2025, which included Gerber and Plum Organics.
According to the lawsuit, Gerber used 67 batches of rice flour between 2017 and 2019 that contained more than nine times the arsenic level permitted in bottled water under the federal standards. The attorney general also alleged that the company’s carrots contained up to 17 times the bottled-water limit for cadmium, while its sweet potatoes had. nearly 10 times the limit for lead. These data are based on ingredients tested and not entirely of finished product.
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The lawsuit further claims that Gerber rarely tested its products for mercury. Paxton argues that the company’s safety claims were misleading because parents were not adequately informed about the substances detected in the ingredients.
“Gerber promised parents its food was safe and rigorously tested. Its own tests showed toxic metals in the food. When a company makes promises about what parents feed their babies, I will hold it accountable to ensure those promises are kept,” said Attorney General Paxton.
The case also raises questions about how baby food manufacturers communicate test results to consumers. Gerber introduced QR codes on product labels in 2025 that allowed customers to access information about content in the product. However, the test results available did not resolve the concerns or the levels of contaminants in its products.
“The disclosure changed. The food did not,” the complaint said.
In response, Gerber rejected the allegations. The company said its products undergo rigorous testing and meet established U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards for heavy metals. Gerber said in a statement, “Gerber strongly supports the FDA’s Closer to Zero Action Plan and continued science-based efforts to further reduce children’s exposure to environmental contaminants.”
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“Heavy metals are commonly found in the environment and can be absorbed by certain fruits, vegetables and grains in trace amounts as they grow. While heavy metals cannot be completely eliminated from the food supply, Gerber has long been committed to reducing their presence through careful ingredient sourcing, supplier requirements, testing and quality controls,” the company added.
In 2021, a congressional investigation also raised concerns about heavy metals in several baby food products. The same year, the FDA announced “Closer to Zero”—the agency’s action plan for reducing exposure to toxic elements, including lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, from foods for babies and young children.
Texas is bringing the case under its Deceptive Trade Practices Act that addresses misleading business practices. Last month, Paxton and Plum entered into a landmark agreement to ensure no dangerous levels of heavy metals in baby food. The agreement included Plum agreeing to follow FDA guidelines, EU guidance for cadmium and inorganic arsenic and a 10-ppb mercury limit.
Dining and Cooking