AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a first-of-its-kind agreement with baby food manufacturer Plum Organics (“Plum”) that legally affirms the company’s commitment to testing for dangerous heavy metals, ensuring strict limits, and publishing publicly accessible testing results. This settlement makes Plum the first baby food manufacturer to enter into such an agreement and sets a new standard that Attorney General Paxton is calling on other manufacturers to follow.
Attorney General Paxton announced his investigation into Plum and other companies in August 2025 after issuing Civil Investigative Demands (“CIDs”) to companies in the industry. This was part of a wide-sweeping investigation that was launched amid concerns that many U.S. baby food manufacturers had adopted internal standards that allowed dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals in their products. Reports indicated that heavy metals, specifically Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury, had been found in baby food. While small amounts of these heavy metals are naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables, larger amounts pose serious health risks to infants and young children, including potential harm to neurological development.
As a result of Attorney General Paxton’s investigation, Plum has become the first baby food company to agree to take significant steps to strengthen its testing standards and increase transparency for parents. Among other requirements, Plum will follow FDA guidance for testing and allowable levels of lead and, in the absence of FDA action levels for cadmium and inorganic arsenic, adopt current EU guidance for cadmium and inorganic arsenic. Plum will also adopt an internal standard of 10 ppb for mercury in its baby food pouches. Plum will not ship a product from a lot if testing demonstrates that the lot exceeds these applicable standards. Additionally, Plum has agreed to continue publishing applicable heavy metal testing results on its website for covered baby food products marketed, distributed, or sold in Texas. Results for individual products will be searchable by UPC code, lot number, and/or “best by” date. For Plum products subject to FDA’s Lead Guidance, testing results may also be accessed using the QR code appearing on Plum’s packaging.
“I will not allow dangerous amounts of contaminants and heavy metals in baby food. This is a commonsense issue, and I commend Plum for agreeing to strengthen its standards and provide parents with greater transparency about what is in these products,” said Attorney General Paxton. “My office will continue to investigate the baby food industry to stop any company from misleading parents about the safety and quality of the products that they rely on to feed their children.”
The wide-sweeping investigation into the baby food industry remains ongoing. Attorney General Paxton is calling on Gerber and other baby food manufacturers to follow Plum’s lead and implement strict testing and safety standards. To read the AVC, click here.
