What We’re Doing About Heavy Metals (And What you Can Too!)

It’s been a week of tough emotions surrounding the release of last week’s report on heavy metals in top baby food brands. First and foremost, we want you to know that they are of the utmost concern for us as parents, as well as Founders.

Please rest assured, since our founding, we have and continue to issue routine, annual testing of our products to ensure that they meet the highest standards for purity and transparency, and that our metal levels come in even well below the FDA requirements (for rice cereal and apple juice). We test consistently for harmful herbicides like Glyphosate as well, and work with partners like The Detox Project, a research & certification platform that encourages transparency in food, specifically on the subject of toxic chemicals.

What's The Problem With Heavy Metals?

Heavy metals naturally occur in soil and water. However, inorganic heavy metals are those derived from impurities that the soil receives from agricultural practices, such as fertilizers and pesticides, and they are dangerous. These metals have been linked to cancer, chronic disease and neurotoxic effects, and they pose a threat to brain development in babies. Congress released a report last week that found that more than a few commercial baby foods are tainted with significant levels of toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.

What is the White Leaf Difference?

Not all hope is lost -- in fact, we know the solution! Healing the earth through regenerative farming will help to reverse the detrimental effects that mainstream agriculture has had on the land for generations. By supporting the movement and eating biodynamic foods, we can heal the Earth that our kids will inherit -- helping to reverse the effects of climate change in the future while ensuring our little ones’ foods are non-toxic at this very moment. 

Today and every day, we pledge to always and only use biodynamic, regeneratively farmed ingredients to provide your family with better-for-you products from farm to shelf -- the true heart and soul of White Leaf since day one. Thank you as always for your support! And for helping make our dreams a reality of a healthier, happier world, from people to planet, and all of the flora and fauna. 

Meghan, Keith & The White Leaf Team xx

You’ve heard us tout the innumerable reasons why investing in and purchasing regeneratively farmed foods is so important. These findings (here we go again!) are just another reason why we believe so deeply in supporting farming reform -- while the heavy metal-laden baby food brands are problematic certainly, the core issue starts with how our food is grown and harvested. Even if you were to pledge to make all of your baby food from scratch, could you be certain that the ingredients had not been grown in or upon damaged, toxic earth? We need to start from the ground up -- literally. We need to change our soils. 

Since the industrial revolution, we have been manipulating the way we grow and harvest food in the US in an effort to mass produce at a cheaper price. In addition to leaching heavy metals into the soil, these farming practices have also led to:

• destruction of healthy soil
• mistreatment of animals
• the development of GMO crops
• water pollution
• overuse of toxic chemicals like Glyphosate, a cancer-causing chemical