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FacebookI used to be totally psyched that I could get Gerber Tender Harvest organic baby food in my regular grocery store and I’ve been faithful to them for six years. Until now. Until some asshat decided that putting organic baby food in plastic containers, as well as killing off half of our favorite flavors in one fell swoop, would be a great idea.
Hello? Plastics leach dangerous chemicals such as phthalates & Bisphenol A into food, particularly when heated. And guess what I found out when I called Gerber to complain? Their baby food is poured into these plastic containers while it’s still boiling hot. But they insist it’s safe. You know…like the Ford Pinto or lead paint. These containers are polycarbonate, as noted by the #7 on the bottom. This is one of the plastics experts advise parents to avoid where their children are concerned. Nice, eh? If you’d like to thank Gerber for this disappointing decision, call them at 1-800-4-GERBER.
So now my choices are to continue buying it and pretend that I don’t know any of this, go somewhere out of my way to buy organic baby food in glass jars OR buy the non-organic stuff and contend with pesticides and fertilizer chemicals instead of pthalates and Bisphenol A. Mmmmm. Yummy.
And if all of the above wasn’t bad enough, when you peel off the plastic covering on these stupid containers, it splatters baby food everywhere every time. EVERY. TIME.
Too bad I can’t trade the coupons they’re sending me for some new shirts to replace the two or three or seven that are stained now.
So yeah…I’m a bit peeved at Gerber.
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Izzy, I feel you. Gerber is just trying to save money and not considering the effect their choice to use phthalate-laden plastic will have on little growing bodies.
You could try Earths Best, which is part of the Hain/Celestial Group (good organic stuff, and widely available). Looks to me like the jars are glass. Here is their site: http://www.earthsbest.com
What a great idea for a blog!! I will definitely have a story or two about consumer products in the market place. Just wanted to give you a shout out to your new blog!! Just one question: “when do you have time to handle TWO blogs, TWO kids and a designing biz?” Do tell!!
i think of you every time i am buying baby food – i sh*t you not! i remember you posting about this awhile back. you would think that if a company is going to try and market a healthy product, they would do whatever to protect the integrity of that product. oh, oh, wait! silly me! this is america isn’t it? i forgot, it’s not about integrity, it’s about money! ok, so never mind then. i should have known better. for that matter – so should you! wanting to feed your children a healthy product – who do you think you are?
Great blog concept. Love it!
I am appauled at Gerber. It is completey counter productive to offer an ORGANIC product in that packaging. I used an organic brand by a Canadian store during my son’s baby years so I was never hooked on Gerber.
It’s almost like a petition or letter writing campaign is in order. But I am a bit advocat-y like that.
Sing it, sistah!
I’ve always been an Earth’s Best fan myself. Of course I suppose the best thing is to make your own but then, that would entail…well, making your own. Pass.
I love the colors you’re using here! I bow down to your creativity.
And now I must hang my head in SHAME, for I have purchased the Gerber food in the plastic containers. Hopefully my daughter isn’t already chemically altered. I’ve got a SuperFoods baby cookbook, and tons of good intentions, but in the end I am just lazy and pathetic. I promise I will switch to glass, I can’t promise organic, but it’s a start, right?
Yuckity, yuck!! Had no idea about the plastic containers, so thanks for the 411.
Also, very cool site.
Also, also, my husband figured out the trick to the plastic containers if you decide to use them- do not hold it AT ALL at the base when peeling off the top. That pressure from just HOLDING it causes the splatter. Instead, hold it around the top where you are peeling (difficult to do, but not impossible) and your clothes will remain splatter free. Good luck!
ewwwwwww
Great post. Calling them right now.
Great blog idea, Izzy! This whole heating of plastic concept is very troublesome for a wide range of products (not to mention Tupperware, Saran Wrap, etc.). [By the way, have you ever seen the Nutrition Action newsletter? I bet you'd like it.] Cheers!
Some companies will do anything to save a buck. I would try Earth’s Best or the other, I think it’s called Organic Baby or Earth Baby. You can mail order it.
We’re beyond baby food here, but fortunately we used to be able to buy the Gerber organic food when it was in the glass jars. I did also try the Earth’s Best as well, and liked that very much. As did Rosie!
I love this idea. You’ve already shown you can have an influence locally (with the grocery store magazine displays) — good for you to think globally!
Baby food bastards! I hate it when companies do asinine things like this in order to streamline or save money or whatever the hell, but not for smart reasons. HATE.
Thanks for the information. My daughter is five but we’re planning on another baby, hopefully soon, and this is good to know. You rock, sista!
Yeah. That’s just wrong.
Love the new site!
OMG I had the same inspiration to start another unrelated to Troll Baby blog at BlogHer. Was it Arianna’s talk at the end that got you?
Mine has been up for a few days, but the official launch will happen in the next few days. So exciting. Don’t worry, my new one is nothing like yours. I LOVE your concept, and I LOVE the design. Also? I LOVE YOU!
Congrats on your new blog- I’m off to Blogroll it now.
Karen
xo
Dude, I am a) embarrassed that it would never occur to me to check my food containers for the type of plastic and b) laughing that I would probably be more pissed about it splattering me every time.
Cool – I will definitely be checking this out.
Don’t be. That was something I already knew about before Gerber did this. If I’d had no previous knowledge of it, I wouldn’t have checked either.
That sucks. Making your own baby food isn’t as hard as it sounds. I don’t cook AT ALL and made my daughter 90% of her food. You can make a batch of something and freeze it in ice cube trays….then when you are ready, just pop what you need in the microwave. Or you could use Earth’s Best.
I’d be pissed too! You go, girl!
Love the new digs.
I *heart* Earth’s Best organic baby food. I drive out of my way to hit Whole foods and stock up. They make AWESOME cereal bars too, my kids are totally addicted to them.
Earth’s Best. All the way.
Crazy! Good to know although we kinda skipped the baby food thing all together. I just handed Cricket huge chunks of food to gnaw on. You know like choking hazards.
I love this site already! You’re bloglined and blogrolled and how else can I promote this site?
Why does it have to be so hard to get safe, nutritious, non-chemical food for our babies? We should not have to go treasure hunting for it like we’re digging for gold or something.
oh, wait, I forgot, WAL-MART is starting an organic line. It will now be in every corner of the Earth available to everyone at LOW, LOW prices. That is until they lobby the feds to change the definition of what “organic” is. We’re in trouble, dude. This Gerber thing is just a hint as to the trouble we’re in.
i am lucky to have gone to a local grocery store and noticed a pile of gerber organic food in glass jars on the sale table for 10 cents a pop. i bought them all…there were also earth’s best. but i had just read about this problem on izzy mom and realized i had been so lucky because we’re all about to be screwed.