At Happy Family Organics, we are on a mission to change the trajectory of children’s health through nutrition. We are proud to be a leader in the baby food industry, with among the strictest quality & safety standards in the U.S, led by our passionate team of quality & food safety experts (and parents too).

As part of our mission, we are dedicated to choosing high quality ingredients, while also working to minimize the presence of heavy metals in our finished products. A core part of our Quality & Food Safety program is reducing the levels of heavy metals present in our products to as low as reasonably achievable, while still providing nutrient-dense organic food to babies. Trace amounts of heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury are present in the environment, including in the soil, air, and water where crops are grown. As a result, small amounts of heavy metals cannot be completely avoided in wholesome ingredients like grains, fruits, and vegetables that are the basis of baby foods. Many everyday foods like sweet potatoes, spinach, and carrots may contain trace amounts of these elements—whether prepared at home or sold as packaged food. Happy Family does not add these elements to its products, nor can they be extracted from its ingredients. Every single lot that reaches shelves, homes, and highchairs has passed more than 100 quality tests, including testing of finished goods for total arsenic (and inorganic arsenic where appropriate), lead, mercury, and cadmium, at a third-party accredited laboratory, and meets or is below all FDA standards in addition to our own high internal standards. If the total arsenic for a lot is above the release threshold for inorganic arsenic, then that lot is tested for inorganic arsenic to ensure it meets all FDA—as well as our own internal—standards.

Babies need nutrition provided by grains, fruits and veggies as part of a balanced diet to develop and grow, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends a variety of foods be provided to babies. We fully support the FDA’s “Closer to Zero Action Plan,” which aims to develop science-based federal standards to reduce heavy metals in young children’s food and are committed to working with the agency to tackle this initiative. Learn more about the FDA’s guidance on the safety of baby food and what is being done to improve the quality of the food supply. Additionally, you can find the most recent FDA guidance on lead and information about potential health effects at Draft Guidance for Industry: Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children.