Toxic Baby Food Lawsuits Placed in an MDL

Recently, lawsuits regarding baby food contaminated with toxic heavy metals were centralized in a single multidistrict litigation (MDL). The lawsuits were brought against several manufacturers and sellers of baby food products alleged to contain high levels of neurotoxins, including mercury, arsenic, and lead. These include Gerber Products Company, Walmart, Inc., Sprout Foods Inc., Plum Organics, Hain Celestial, Inc., and Beech-Nut Nutrition Company. Toxic heavy metal contamination can result in serious harm to the brain during a baby’s development. If your baby was injured by toxic baby food, you should call the seasoned product liability lawyers of Moll Law Group.

Consult Moll Law Group About Toxic Baby Food Claims

Exposure and consumption of contaminating metals can result in babies winding up with neurodevelopmental conditions like ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. The 11 lawsuits, filed in 7 different federal district courts, that were centralized involve the same toxins, the same harm, and the same defendants. The products overlap in flavors and categories; specifically they can be organized as jars or tubs pouches; puffs; snacks; cereals and yogurt-based foods. Accordingly, the United States Judicial Panel brought the cases together in a centralized proceeding. The Judicial Panel acknowledged that not all the baby foods were contaminated, and that certain ingredients increased contamination like rice and root vegetables.

However, the panel reasoned, all the actions had common questions of facts and law, and there were certain patterns in the plaintiffs’ claims based on the defendants’ coordinated behavior. For instance, from 2019 to 2021, most of the defendants were part of a consortium that was organized to handle the toxic contamination. Additionally, defendant manufacturers have co-manufacturing agreements between themselves and use common suppliers and laboratories.

A Congressional probe into the contamination yielded two published reports in which Congress concluded that the manufacturers’ negligence and recklessness arose because of their failure to adequately test the baby foods for neurotoxins. They marketed products despite their high levels of heavy metal, failed to set appropriate limits for the presence of contaminants, and made decisions about ingredients and formulation that would drive metal levels up.

The judicial panel explained that each lawsuit would demand substantial discovery and investigation about the safety and marketing of the affected foods, and that this would be extensive and involve complex scientific issues in trying to prove causation—that the toxins substantially contributed to brain injuries. It considered that the decision not to coordinate would result in the lawsuits being substantially more expensive to prosecute and, in front of different judges in different jurisdictions, might also yield different outcomes on many different issues.

If your child was injured as a result of heavy metals in their baby food, it is important to seek knowledgeable legal counsel. You may be able to bring a product liability lawsuit in line with the cases that are currently being centralized in a multidistrict litigation. Baby food can be defective in terms of its manufacturing, design or marketing. Our lawyers would need to establish manufacturers’ liability under theories of strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty, and/or breach of contract.

Call the seasoned Chicago-based product liability lawyers of Moll Law Group for a consultation about whether you have a claim due to heavy metal toxins in your child’s baby food. We represent injured children and families across the country, and billions have been recovered in the lawsuits with which we’ve been involved. Complete our online form or call us at 312.462.1700