No match on this sheet. If it is not rice and not a root vegetable, it is almost certainly fine — serve it and vary what comes next.
Tested clean
Non-detectThese are products that came back non-detect for lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic in independent, community-funded lab testing. Results are product-specific, never brand-specific — the source says so outright. Note: one Once Upon a Farm product containing kale failed while eight others passed. Detection limits vary by lab and are stated inside each report, so non-detect is a floor, not a zero.
Baby food pouchesEleven on the March 2026 list. Only OhMyMega has a report we opened and read directly; for the rest, the publisher's own report index is linked.
GoGo Squeez Organic Apple Sauce pouch
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)OUAF Smart Blend — Pear-y Blueberry & Spinach
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)OUAF OhMyMega Veggie blend
report verified · the kale flavour did not pass
Source: full lab report (opens in a new tab)OUAF Immunity — Pineapple, Banana & Dragon Fruit
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)OUAF Immunity — Mango, Banana & Spirulina
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)OUAF Immunity — Blueberry, Banana & Ginger
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)HappyTot Super Bellies — Pears, Beets & Blackberries
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)HappyTot Fiber & Protein — Pears, Peaches, Pumpkin, Apples & Cinnamon
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)BABY FORMULAS WE ARE OK WITHEleven products, all non-detect for lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic.Breastfeeding is best for babies. Infant formula should only be used on the advice of a doctor, midwife or health visitor, and preparing it incorrectly can make a baby ill. This is a record of what one family was willing to use after reading lab results. It is not advice for your child, not a comparison of how well these products feed a baby, and not a recommendation of any brand.
HiPP HA Stage PRE
0+ months · imported
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)Date not stated by sourceCEREAL, SNACKS & DRINKS
Nature's Path EnviroKidz Panda Puffs
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)Nature's Path EnviroKidz Gorilla Munch
Organic corn puffs
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars — Raspberry Lemonade
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars — Strawberry Banana
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)Babybel Mini Original snack cheese
peel it, the wax is a choking risk
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)Honest Kids Appley Ever After
still juice, keep it occasional
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)CHILDREN'S SUPPLEMENTS
Baby Ddrops Organic Vitamin D3
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)Mary Ruth's Toddler Elderberry drops
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)Seed PDS-08 Pediatric Daily Synbiotic
Prebiotic + probiotic
Source: lab report index (opens in a new tab)Clean on metals, but the publisher does not recommend themAll products below tested non-detect, but they sit in a separate section of the source list for reasons unrelated to metals.
Little Spoon BabyBlends — Kale, Carrot + Pear
Source: safer choices list (opens in a new tab)Little Spoon BabyBlends — Butternut Squash + Blueberry
Source: safer choices list (opens in a new tab)Little Spoon BabyBlends — Sweet Potato
unusual for a root vegetable
Source: safer choices list (opens in a new tab)Little Spoon BabyBlends — Sweet Potato + Carrot
unusual for root vegetables
Source: safer choices list (opens in a new tab)Little Spoon BabyBlends — Banana + Pitaya
Source: safer choices list (opens in a new tab)REMOVED FROM THE CLEAN LISTThese were all non-detect for metals, but that was not enough.
ByHeart Infant Formula
Clean on metals · removed after a Nov 2025 botulism recall
Source: safer choices list (opens in a new tab)Navitas Organic Chia Seeds
Clean on metals · removed after a Jan 2026 salmonella recall
Source: safer choices list (opens in a new tab)One Degree Sprouted Rolled Oats
Delisted after a 2025 retest found trace toxicants
Source: 2025 retest report (opens in a new tab)Jovial Organic Einkorn Flour
Delisted after a 2025 retest found trace toxicants
Source: 2025 retest report (opens in a new tab)Death Wish Coffee, Espresso Roast
Delisted after a 2025 retest found trace toxicants
Source: 2025 retest report (opens in a new tab)Serve
Lowest loadEvery food here sits inside the study's ten least contaminated foods for babies. Low enough that frequency is not the issue — build the base of the rotation here. Grouped the way a shop is laid out, not by rank.
Apple
Fresh, or unsweetened sauce — the study advises fresh or frozen over canned
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)Butternut squash
The root vegetable that does not carry the usual load
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)Baby-food-brand meats
One of the study's lowest-metal proteins, and badly underused by parents
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)Lead-tested tap water
HBBF found lead in tap water in 80% of homes tested — your pipes may matter more than most food choices
Source: HBBF, In Your Home (opens in a new tab)Source undatedRotate
Vary the sourceNot off-limits. The failure mode is repetition — the source's own warning is that serving the same food every day can accidentally concentrate a contaminant in a child's diet. Change brand, variety or store weekly.
Carrots, sweet potatoes & beets
Root vegetables get a looser 20 ppb FDA lead allowance than the 10 ppb applied to other baby foods, because levels run higher
Source: FDA action levels (opens in a new tab)White rice
Lower than brown rice, but still cook it in excess water and drain it
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)Raisins & raisin granola bars
Both sit in the study's elevated group · also a choking shape
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)Teething crackers, non-rice
Better than the rice versions, but still in the study's elevated group
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)Oat-ring cereal
In the study's elevated group — vary what breakfast looks like
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)100% fruit juice
Named among the 15 higher-risk foods driving over half the estimated IQ loss · none under 12 months
Source: HBBF 2019 (opens in a new tab)Kale-containing pouches
The same brand whose other flavours tested clean did not pass on its kale product
Source: lab report (opens in a new tab)Skip
Highest loadAll five are rice-based, and all five sit in the study's most contaminated group. Rice accumulates more arsenic from soil than any other staple crop. In no particular rank or order.
Rice-based puffs
The baby-aisle one · check the flour, sorghum or corn puffs avoid this entirely
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)Crisped rice cereal
Flagged as a food to avoid for children and adults alike
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)Teething biscuits & rice rusks
Frozen banana or chilled peeled cucumber instead
Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)Brown rice
Over 1 in 4 rice samples exceeded the FDA action level for arsenic in infant rice cereal
Source: HBBF rice study 2025 (opens in a new tab)The one rule
Variety is the intervention.
94% of store-bought baby food and 94% of homemade purées were contaminated. Levels varied by food type, not by who made the food — so switching brands or cooking from scratch does far less than switching foods. Source: HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)
About the underlying rankings
The 2022 study ranks the ten most and the ten least contaminated foods babies eat. Choosing which twenty foods to feature, and in what order, is the researchers' own editorial work — so this page does not republish those lists.
Instead it sorts the same foods into tiers you can act on in a shop, and links every row back to the original. If you want the rankings themselves, read them where they were published. HBBF 2022 (opens in a new tab)
Prep changes that actually move numbers
- Peel sweet potatoes before cooking. Source (opens in a new tab)
- Serve infant oatmeal instead of infant rice cereal. Single highest-leverage swap in the diet. Source (opens in a new tab)
- Swap fresh or frozen fruit for canned. Source (opens in a new tab)
- Cook rice in excess water and drain it, like pasta. Source (opens in a new tab)
- Introduce and serve a variety, every day. The single most important step named in the study. Source (opens in a new tab)
- Homemade is not safer. 94% contamination either way. Source (opens in a new tab)
Brands, as a second-order lever
Food type matters more than brand. These three come up most often. The labels below report what testing found — they are not purchase recommendations, and each links to the source that states it.
Once Upon a Farm puffsTesting found: Lowest lead in CR test
Sorghum-based. Consumer Reports found very low lead — among the lowest of all the baby foods it has tested. The company said it chose sorghum partly because it is less likely to contain heavy metals than rice or cassava.
Source: CR puffs testing (opens in a new tab)
Little Bellies puffsTesting found: Company-tested only
Corn and wheat, so it sidesteps the rice problem by construction. No independent lab result is public — the safety case rests on the company's own lot-gated testing under California's AB 899.
Source: CR transparency review (opens in a new tab)
Gerber glass jarsTesting found: Varies by variety
Banana, apple and butternut squash jars are among the cleanest foods measured. Carrot and sweet potato are rotate-only. Skip anything with rice. Glass itself is inert and fine.
Source: CR on the congressional report (opens in a new tab)
The faster-acting risks
Heavy metals are chronic and cumulative. These have a much shorter path to harm — worth equal attention.
- No honey before 12 months. Infant botulism.
- Choking shapes: whole grapes (cut lengthwise), whole nuts, raw carrot coins, popcorn, chunks of nut butter.
- Two products on the clean-metals list were pulled for pathogens — a formula for botulism, a seed for salmonella. Non-detect says nothing about microbial safety.
- Check recalls by lot, not by brand. A recall is a production run, not a company. FDA recall database (opens in a new tab)
Sources & methods
Every row above links to whichever of these states that specific fact. Links open in a new tab.
- HBBF — Is Homemade Baby Food Better? (Aug 2022) (opens in a new tab)Backs the serve, rotate and skip tiers. 288 foods tested plus 7,000+ additional analyses. The study's own ranked lists are not reproduced here — read them at the link.
- HBBF — 2022 full report (PDF) (opens in a new tab)The per-food data behind those rankings.
- HBBF — Six Tips to Reduce Babies' Heavy Metals Exposures (PDF) (opens in a new tab)The one-page parent's guide version.
- HBBF — What's in My Baby's Food? (Oct 2019) (opens in a new tab)Backs the juice row: 15 higher-risk foods account for over half the estimated IQ loss.
- HBBF — Arsenic in Rice (May 2025, PDF) (opens in a new tab)Backs the brown rice row and the drain-cooking method.
- HBBF — In Your Home (opens in a new tab)Backs the tap water row: lead found in 80% of homes tested.
- Consumer Reports — on the HBBF homemade study (opens in a new tab)Backs three prep tips, quoting the study's research director directly.
- CBS News — Consumer Reports veggie puffs testing (Jun 2024) (opens in a new tab)Backs the sorghum-versus-cassava puff comparison.
- Consumer Reports — baby food labels under AB 899 (Mar 2026) (opens in a new tab)39-brand review of testing transparency and detection limits.
- Consumer Reports — on the 2021 congressional report (opens in a new tab)Origin of the widely circulated Gerber ingredient figures.
- FDA — Action Levels for Lead in Processed Food for Babies (Jan 2025) (opens in a new tab)Backs the root vegetable row: 10 ppb for most baby food, 20 ppb for single-ingredient root vegetables. Guidance, not enforceable limits.
- FDA — Closer to Zero (opens in a new tab)The broader regulatory programme and its timeline.
- FDA — Recalls, Market Withdrawals & Safety Alerts (opens in a new tab)Check here before trusting anything on this page.
- Lead Safe Mama — Lab-Tested Safer Choices list (opens in a new tab)Source for the tested-clean tier, updated 15 March 2026, 120 products. Community-funded testing; the list carries Amazon affiliate links.
- Lead Safe Mama — lab report index (opens in a new tab)Roughly 550 published reports. The publisher does not expose a permanent URL per product, so clean-tier rows link here; each product tile opens its own full report.
- Lead Safe Mama — OUAF OhMyMega lab report (Aug 2025) (opens in a new tab)The one clean-tier report we opened and read end to end.