Little Spoon is first US baby food brand to adopt EU-aligned safety standards
For years, American parents have had very little trust in baby food.Today, things are changing.New York City-based baby food startup Little Spoon has become the first baby food maker to set new food safety and transparency standards in the United States.
It’s a monumental step in the industry and something that has never been done before.The founders of Little Spoon came together with the belief that the options for parents were simply not up to snuff.It’s hard to disagree with that.
Just take a quick trip to the baby section at your nearest grocer.Standard shelves are stacked with brightly-colored jars and plastic foil pouches filled with goops and goos of varying shades, and shelf-stable blends are stamped with seemingly endless ingredients, some with concerning additives, like high levels of sugar for flavor or ascorbic acid for color and even traces of unknown heavy metals.RELATED: The best diapers, tested by a real first-time momJust last week, a report released by the George Institute for Global Health found that 60% of infant and toddler foods sold in the U.S.are unhealthy.“When we launched in 2017, Little Spoon was the trailblazer in the fresh baby food space, disrupting a decades-old category that needed a serious transformation,” shared Angela Vranich, co-founder and chief product officer at Little Spoon.Finding baby food that is safe, nutritious, and affordable is exceptionally difficult in America.“We know that the modern parent today is seeking better-for-you options that they can trust,” she added.Little Spoon decided to look across the pond for a better way.In addition to pesticide and additive controls, the EU imposes strict regulations on the amount of lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic traces allowed in baby food.
Accepted levels are set as low as reasonably achievable.“Unfortunately, in the U.S., there are still no legally enforceable standards for heavy metals in baby food, aside from legal limits on inorganic arsenic in infant ...