ANALYTICS: The Emerging Trend of Baby Food Safety Litigation March 14, 2021 On February 4, the House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy published a report claiming that baby food products contain “dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals” which it said could cause harm to babies and children, specifically regarding their cognitive development. Days after this announcement, lawsuits began to be filed against Gerber Products Company and Beech-Nut, and later against each company that the report said responded to the subcommittee’s request for testing data and every baby food company mentioned in the report. In addition to these lawsuits, the report also led to requests that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) create standards for levels of certain heavy metals for baby foods, including one from New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Although this is not common for foods, there are FDA standards for heavy metal levels in bottled water and some other items.