Beech-Nut has voluntarily pulled one lot of its rice cereal off the shelves and from homes. According to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) website, on June 8, 2021, the company issued a recall of a lot of its Beech-Nut Stage 1 Single Grain Rice cereal.
The recall is due to this lot tested 913 parts per billion for inorganic arsenic. The FDA set the guideline for inorganic arsenic in August 2020 — 100 parts per billion. Beech-Nut’s single grain rice cereal with the UPC number 52200034705 is the lot being recalled. This lot has an expiration date of May 1, 2022, and has the product codes: 093470XXXX and 103470XXXX.
The FDA’s website says that people can find the product numbers and expiration dates on the bottom of the Beech-Nut canister. They further state these specific item or product codes were distributed nationwide online and in retail.
The company has further decided to withdraw from selling its brand of Single Grain Rice Cereal. According to the FDA, the company is concerned about keeping its rice flour below the guidelines set by the FDA or Beech-Nut’s specifications for naturally inorganic arsenic levels.
Beech-Nut’s Vice President of Food Safety and Quality, Jason Jacobs, released a statement saying, “The safety of infants and children is [the company’s] top priority.” It further stated that they are issuing the “voluntary recall” is due to learning “through routine sampling… that a” small amount of its “Single Grain Rice Cereal products had levels of… inorganic arsenic above the FDA guidance level.”
Consumer Reports director of food policy, Brian Ronholm, stated that people have “known for years that toxic heavy metals are found in popular baby foods and can lead to serious health problems in children over time.”
Ronholm points out that Beech-Nut’s “recall underscores why we need strict limits to keep dangerous heavy metals out of the food that” many people feed “young children every day.”
Those who purchased the recalled rice cereal should immediately discard the product. People can also go to Beech-Nut’s website backslash rice cereal or call 1-866-272-9417 for information on refunds and exchanges.
Written by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
FDA: Voluntary Recall of One Lot of Beech-Nut Single Grain Rice Cereal and Also Decides to Exit the Rice Cereal Segment
USA Today: Beech-Nut recall: Baby food brand will stop selling rice cereal due to high arsenic levels; by Kelly Tyko
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Doug Kerr’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
