Texas is suing Gerber and its parent company, Nestlé USA, alleging they misled parents about arsenic, lead and other heavy metals in baby food marketed as safe and rigorously tested. Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the case October 14, 2026, bringing fresh scrutiny to one of the country’s best-known baby-food brands.
The case concerns advertising claims, not a newly announced product recall. It arrives as food companies face greater pressure to explain what goes into their products.
What the Texas lawsuit alleges
The Texas complaint, filed in Collin County, points to Gerber ingredient testing from 2017 through 2019. It alleges 67 rice-flour batches contained more than nine times the arsenic permitted in bottled water, and cites lead measurements in sweet potatoes and cadmium in carrots.
Texas also claims Gerber frequently tested ingredients rather than finished foods during that period. The state says a 2021 Alaska laboratory review found two Gerber rice-cereal samples above the federal arsenic benchmark. Those findings are part of the state’s allegations, not a new determination about everything Gerber sells today.
Paxton is pursuing the case under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. His office argues that statements describing the foods as safe, pure and rigorously tested were misleading. The state’s October 14 announcement also questions whether putting testing information behind package QR codes does enough to inform shoppers.
Gerber disputes the accusations
Gerber has rejected the allegations. In a response reported by UPI, the company said its foods meet FDA limits for heavy metals and undergo extensive testing. Gerber maintains that heavy metals can occur naturally in soil and water and be absorbed by crops before those ingredients reach a food factory.
The company says it tests crops, water, ingredients and finished foods, and regularly screens for hundreds of contaminants. Nestlé has also disputed the accusations. The central disagreement is whether the company’s testing and consumer-facing safety statements supported its promises to parents.
What parents should know now
The suit did not announce a Gerber recall, and it did not establish that all of the brand’s current products violate safety standards. Much of the evidence cited by Texas concerns historical testing. Whether the company’s practices violated Texas consumer-protection law will be decided through the legal process.
One important distinction: The lawsuit compares some ingredient levels with bottled-water limits, but those are not the standards that apply to baby food. The FDA’s action level for inorganic arsenic in finished infant rice cereal is 100 parts per billion. A bottled-water comparison alone doesn’t demonstrate that a finished cereal violated that benchmark.
For everyday feeding, the FDA advises families to offer a variety of grains. Iron-fortified rice cereal can be part of a baby’s diet, but oat, barley and multigrain cereals are options too. Changing the mix can reduce reliance on any one food while still providing important nutrients.
Gerber says it provides batch-specific heavy-metal test results online for foods produced since January 2025. Shoppers can use the batch number printed on a package to look up corresponding information. Parents concerned about a child’s diet or possible exposure can also ask their pediatrician for guidance.
Texas will now have to prove its allegations in court. Until then, the case remains a dispute over testing and marketing—not a blanket warning to discard Gerber baby food.
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