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A message from Beech-Nut Food Safety Manager, Janeen Richey, on Beech-Nut’s commitment to quality & safety and on the upcoming addition of QR codes to our packaging.

In recent years, there has been tremendous focus and concern around heavy metals in baby foods. As a mother of a 17-month-old, and a former foster mom, I understand this fear. As a member of the Beech-Nut Food Safety Team, I have no concerns.

We at Beech-Nut are not just employees; we are mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends, and caregivers who bring our food home to the littles in our own lives. Our safety standards mean just as much to us as they do to you. Every decision we make is guided by our mission to provide families delicious, quality-tested baby and toddler foods. When you purchase a Beech-Nut product, know that the care and wellbeing of your children (and ours) was on our minds while we made it, every step of the way.

Heavy Metals

Heavy metals occur naturally in soils & rocks and can also accumulate over time as a result of industrialization. They are found in water, air and soil, including agricultural soil where food is grown–from organic backyard gardens to large-scale commercial farms. Heavy metal particles are absorbed into plants as they grow, in the same ways plants take up valuable nutrients like iron and zinc.

Some heavy metals are essential to our bodies’ health, such as iron and zinc. Others, such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, are mercury, have no biological function and according to the FDA, have the “potential to cause harm during times of active brain development—in the womb through early childhood.”

While heavy metals can’t be avoided, Beech-Nut has rigorous quality testing in place to determine the heavy metal levels present and reject ingredient samples that do not meet our quality standards.

At Beech-Nut, we pride ourselves on our drive to innovate and continuously learn. We are always on the lookout for new flavors or methods to improve our food. Over 30 years ago, long before concerns around trace heavy metals in food were as commonly known as they are today, Beech-Nut was already testing the ingredients in our jar purees for these contaminants.

Our Quality Testing Process

Our rigorous quality testing program at Beech-Nut factors into every step of the production process, starting with our testing samples of ingredients before the rest of the lot can enter our building.

All the labs we use for testing, including our own, are ISO-17025:2017 accredited, a rigorous accreditation that verifies results meet the same level of accuracy as the highest internationally accredited labs. And as the raw ingredients make their way into our products, we test and check samples of our food for color, taste, texture and consistency, before heavy metal testing the final packaged products one last time before they leave our doors.

In addition to our own testing, we consistently seek input and guidance on food safety from leading food science and public health experts. This type of collaboration helps us assess and tighten standards as science, data, and policy evolve. As a result, we don’t hesitate to phase out ingredients and products that cannot adhere to our increasingly high standards.

Janeen Richey, Food Safety Manager, and Amber Morey-Lanza, Principal Scientist in our ISO Accredited Lab.

New in 2025

Starting in 2025, California is requiring all baby food companies selling products in the state to disclose heavy metal testing results for lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury for each individual product batch on their website (California Assembly Bill 899). Beech-Nut products will have a scannable QR code on our packaging for customers to see batch sample testing results representative of the package they are holding in their hands.

As Beech-Nut has chosen to meet this standard nationally, parents and caregivers across the country will have access to this newly public data.

Examples of new QR codes that will appear on Beech-Nut packaging in 2025.

Why we do it

We at Beech-Nut are relentless with our quality standards. Not only do we work tirelessly to confirm, and reconfirm, the safety of our food, but we also seek out potential issues we can prevent before they even happen. This testing process is methodical and time intensive. It is an investment we are committed to making and requires manpower, dedication, and patience. We are deeply proud of the integrity and diligence that goes into producing our food, because we know it is the right thing to do for our kids.

Do you have questions for Beech-Nut about heavy metal testing?

Please email us at [email protected]