The baby food lawsuits have been mostly stand-alone lawsuits. But there is already a consumer baby food class-action lawsuit. Thirteen plaintiffs filed a new consumer class-action lawsuit in February 2022 in California against a group of baby food manufacturers, including Beech-Nut; Nurture, Inc.; Plum Organics; and Gerber. This class-action lawsuit claims that the defendants violated various consumer protection laws by falsely marketing their baby food products as safe when they knew that the products contained toxic heavy metals. None of the plaintiffs claim that their children developed neurological damage.
In May 2022, a federal judge in California allowed plaintiffs to move forward with a proposed consumer class-action against Walmart claiming it sold its “Parent’s Choice” brand baby food, which had dangerously high levels of toxic metals. But in 2022 as these lawsuits continue to be filed at an accelerating pace, it might be feasible to have an MDL class-action for each of the major defendants. These baby food autism lawsuits allege that the manufacturers knew about heavy metals in their products, and that children developed autism from consuming them.
Defendants are likely to assert is that these toxins are just in the environment, and they cannot make baby food without these toxic metals. But not all baby food brands are contaminated with unsafe levels of toxic heavy metals, such as Once Upon a Farm, Yumi, Little Spoon.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Defendants:
- Beech-Nut
- Gerber Products Co
- Hain Celestial Group (Earth’s Best Organic)
- Nurture, Inc. (Happy Family Organics and HappyBABY Plum)
- Sprout Foods (Sprout Organic Food)
- Walmart (Parent’s Choice)
Plaintiffs:
13 individuals who allegedly purchased and used baby food products manufactured by the defendants. None of the plaintiffs claim that their children have suffered any physical injuries and the lawsuit only seeks economic and statutory damages.
Baby food lawsuit update:
- California clears path for baby food autism trial in August 2022. Judge ruled that plaintiffs could proceed with a proposed baby food autism class-action lawsuit.
- The court ruled this week that the plaintiffs—a boy and his family—had presented sufficient scientific evidence in a baby food autism lawsuit to move forward to trial in August. Lorenzo and Melissa Cantabrana allege their son Noah, now seven, ate foods contaminated with lead, mercury, and arsenic. They say the toxins caused his autism spectrum disorder and his attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Experts who testified for the plaintiffs:
California law requires expert witnesses to have a reasonable foundation for their opinions before testifying at trial.
- Dr. Beate Ritz (Epidemiologist at UCLA)
- Dr. Hannah Gardener (Epidemiologist at the University of Miami)
- Dr. Michael Aschner (Professor of Neuroscience at Albert Einstein)
- Dr. Kevin Shapiro (Executive Director of Research and Therapeutic Technologies at Cortica)
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