Leading brands of baby food found to contain arsenic and other toxins - 11th Apr 2011

Small amounts of arsenic and other toxins found in the soil are getting into the ingredients used in top-selling baby foods, it has emerged.

Manufacturers insist the levels are so low they do not pose a health risk.

However scientists and food campaigners are calling for efforts to eliminate the chemicals from mass-produced products eaten by millions of youngsters.

Leading brands from Organix, Hipp, Nestle and Holle were tested by Swedish researchers.

Writing in the Journal of Food Chemistry, the scientists from the Unit of Metals and Health at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said: ‘Alarmingly, these foods may also introduce high amounts of toxic elements such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and uranium, mainly from their raw materials.

‘These elements have to be kept at an absolute minimum in food products intended for infant consumption. The high concentrations of arsenic in the rice-based foods are of particular concern.’

Two years ago Britain’s Food Standards Agency issued an official warning that young children should be stopped from drinking rice milk because of arsenic contamination.

It acted after two types of the poison were found in the rice milk, including the most harmful form, which is called inorganic arsenic. Read More