A federal judge in California who is overseeing more than 100 cases alleging that major baby food brands contain excessive amounts of heavy metals such as arsenic rejected the defendants’ combined motion to dismiss the litigation earlier this month.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley issued the ruling on April 2 in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) filed against multiple baby food manufacturers, including Beech-Nut, Walmart and Gerber. Many of the lawsuits, which were centralized in the Northern District of California last year, allege that the toxic metal content in the products has caused children to experience autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
In her ruling, Corley denied the defendants’ collective motion to dismiss the cases for failure to state a claim. But she also decided to remove allegations regarding aluminum content in the products and to tentatively strike allegations regarding baby formula from the litigation.
The co-lead counsel in the MDL, which now includes about 135 lawsuits, is Los Angeles attorney R. Brent Wisner of Wisner Baum. The cases in question come from federal districts all around the nation, including Southern California.
Wisner Baum has called the judge’s decision a positive step forward for families seeking to hold the baby food manufacturers liable for the alleged contamination. But the defendants stressed that the courts which have considered heavy metal cases in the past have rejected the science put forth by plaintiffs.
“We have successfully defended this and other cases for nearly five years, and every court that has made a ruling after considering the evidence has ruled in our favor,” Beech-Nut said in a statement emailed to the Southern California Record. “In two lawsuits, the court found that the plaintiff’s theory was not scientifically valid or otherwise failed as a matter of law and dismissed the cases with prejudice.”
In addition, class actions filed against Beech-Nut have been dismissed with prejudice, the company said.
In its statement, Beech-Nut stressed that heavy metals are present in minute amounts in many fruits, vegetables and grains grown worldwide and are taken up by plants as part of the growing process.
“These elements exist in the soils in which food is grown, no matter how it is cultivated – from organic, backyard gardens to large-scale commercial farms – and are absorbed by crops’ roots and growing systems,” the statement says. “These are the very same plant pathways that take up valuable nutrients in fruits, vegetables and grains.”
Walmart, like Beech-Nut, said a top priority for the company is to provide safe, high-quality food to both babies and toddlers.
“We are committed to complying with laws and regulations in every community where we operate, and we expect our suppliers of both our private brands and national brands to do the same,” a Walmart spokesperson said in a statement. “These claims are without merit, and we will continue to defend the company against these lawsuits.”
The baby food litigation grew out of a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee report published in 2021, according to Wisner Baum. That report indicated that a congressional probe found “dangerous” levels of heavy metals, such as cadmium, lead and mercury, in some baby food products. Such contamination can lead to neurological damage in infants and young children, according to the study.