I wrote to Earth's Best to ask about soy in the vitamin E. They responded that the vitamin E is derived from sunflower oil, not soy. The top review of this product had me worried about the soy. I wanted to let others know that the review is either incorrect or outdated. Please find the full response from Earth's Best below.Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding our Earth's Best Whole Grain Rice Cereal. We strive to maintain the highest quality products and your satisfaction is very important to us.
The source of Vitamin E (tocopherols) in Earth's Best Multigrain Cereal, Rice Cereal and Oatmeal is sunflower oil.
The Hain Celestial Group's labeling declares major allergens (peanuts, soybeans, milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, tree nuts, and wheat) and we follow the U.S. FDA's regulations. We recognize the serious nature of the allergen issue and we strive to minimize risk.
Both major and minor ingredients of all products, as well as all processing procedures and equipment, are closely scrutinized and all potential allergen issues as determined by the Hain Celestial Group are declared on our labeling.
We assure you that strict manufacturing processes and procedures are in place and that all of our manufacturing facilities follow rigid allergen control programs that include staff training, segregation of allergen ingredients, production scheduling, and thorough cleaning and sanitation.
Thank you for your continued support. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-434-4246, Monday through Friday from 7AM 5PM Mountain Time.
Sincerely,
Christina
Consumer Relations Representative
Inorganic arsenic is a known carcinogen. Rice is also currently considered a significant source of environmental arsenic for humans, ranging from 17% (2009-10 EPA study) to the main cause of over half of the total environmental exposure, which is attributed to cereals according to a "more complete" study by the European Food Safety Organization (CR 2012).
This is not a new issue. Most of what I've seen online about baby cereals and arsenic have cited inorganic arsenic content PER SERVING and concludes that you should limit yourself and your baby to one serving per day. Among the four baby products CR tested, Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Rice infant cereal had the highest average levels of inorganic arsenic--ALMOST DOUBLE (193%) the average arsenic in the other three brands (Beech-Nut Homestyle Cereal, Gerber Rice, Gerber SmartNourish).
I was late to read this report, and when I did, I looked at a pdf containing detailed results of the tests before I noticed a chart at the end of the article published online.
What I was startled to find in the detailed data is something not reflected in the more popularly-viewed chart, which lists inorganic arsenic content in rice per serving rather than in parts per billion.
When I compared the 32 uncooked rice brands CR tested and the 4 infant cereals, I found that the inorganic arsenic (the kind that causes cancer) in Earth's Best brown rice cereal is not only the highest among the 4 baby cereals, but it ranks as the FOURTH highest in inorganic arsenic concentration, gram per gram of rice, among the other 32 products.
In parts per billion, the highest levels of inorganic arsenic were in:
#1: Della Basmati Brown,
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 179.66
#2 365 Everyday Value Long Grain Brown (Whole Foods)
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 176.67
#3 Carolina Whole Grain Brown,
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 164.33
#4 Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Rice Cereal
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 152
#5 Jazzmen Louisiana Aromatic Brown,
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 149
The old news is that brown rice is known to be higher in arsenic content than white rice, and this was shown in the CR data.
The good news is that you can reduce the arsenic content of rice by about 30% if you wash it first and cook it using 6 parts of water to 1 part of uncooked rice. This is great, but it only applies to the uncooked rice products. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to mitigate the arsenic that is in baby cereal.
If you were to prepare your uncooked rice according to the CR and FDA recommended methods, you will see that Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Rice Cereal for infants jumps into the number ONE spot as having the highest average inorganic arsenic contamination in parts per billion. (This is assuming that organic and inorganic arsenic are removed at the same rate.)
AFTER WASHING AND COOKING WITH EXCESS WATER*:
#1 Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Rice Cereal*
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 152
#2: Della Basmati Brown,
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 126.8
#3 365 Everyday Value Long Grain Brown (Whole Foods)
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 123.7
#4 Carolina Whole Grain Brown
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 115
#5 Jazzmen Louisiana Aromatic Brown,
Average inorganic arsenic in ppb: 104.3
* Unfortunately, you cannot reduce arsenic in baby cereal so it gets fed in totality to your baby or toddler.
I bought a case of this cereal among other available brands after reading on its packaging that it is organic, non-gmo, and "grown without potentially harmful pesticides and herbicides."
The arsenic in Earth's Best brown rice cereal is not only high b/c arsenic is higher in brown rice in general, it is higher than arsenic in other brown rice brands, particularly since there is nothing you can do to reduce it.
If you have this product in your home and if you are using it as a first food, you can switch to other grains, but if you want to continue using rice due to allergen or other reasons (I fully understand), you are much better off feeding your child 15grams of any one of the other 32 brands of uncooked rice using the FDA recommended prep guidelines, and you will be feeding your child less inorganic arsenic, gram per gram of rice. Remember that the chart at the bottom of the online CR study lists arsenic PER SERVING, and the serving size for uncooked rice is 45g and for baby cereal, it is only 15g.
If you feel you were mislead by Earth's Best's brown rice product, I urge you to contact your local stores to let them know about the arsenic in this product and to ask them to discontinue stocking it! If you care, please write to your local stores, take a moment to talk to the store manager, write a review online. Every time I see this product in stores, it makes me sad. I have more than half a case of unopened EB rice cereal and there is no way I would feed it to my son, nor is there any way I would give it away, knowing it will be eaten by another child or baby!
I wrote to the company. They have not taken any responsibility for the high levels of arsenic in their cereal, nor have I found anywhere online where someone has raised the issue of comparing the absolute inorganic arsenic content of infant and uncooked rice in parts per billion, rather than in micrograms of arsenic per serving.
If you have this product and would like to complain to the FDA, you can call your local coordinator. In the absence of a federal limit on arsenic levels in food, however, you can only complain about Earth's Best's inaccurate labeling on their package. The words, "Grown without Potentially Harmful Pesticides and Herbicides" appears on its label. EB does not ADD these harmful substances to its crops, however, research shows that much of the arsenic appearing in rice comes from pesticide residues IN THE SOIL that crops are grown on. "Organic" means that a producer does not ADD these substances TO THE CROP or soil.
However, the high inorganic arsenic content in Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Rice Cereal for infants suggests that the product WAS grown WITH potentially harmful pesticides IN THE SOIL. The statement "Grown WITHOUT" is a larger claim than the "organic" claim, which the company can support. Again, the arsenic concentrations in EB's brown rice cereal suggest the crop was indeed grown WITH arsenic-containing pesticides that got into the crop via soil and water used to grow the rice. If it wasn't grown with arsenic in the soil and then in the water, then the rice wouldn't contain such high levels of inorganic arsenic. This is common sense, and EB's labeling is inaccurate.
If you call the FDA, you will need to state when you bought your product, where, how much is left, any effects you experienced (which for carcinogens does not happen for many years, so you should state that inorganic arsenic is a known carcinogen and that the FDA already knows this and it also already knows the levels of inorganic arsenic CR found in EB's infant cereal), and the expiration date, lot number, place of production, size of package, and bar code, all on the box.I try to do what is best for my son on a day to day basis. Buying EB cereal was one of those things. I felt horrible, when I saw the CR pdf. I read it thinking EB's cereal was going to come out on top! I now cringe at my naive expectation. I immediately put the unused boxes in a bag for the trash, but I luckily kept it in the house long enough to have a box handy when I called the FDA. I feel so bad seeing something on store shelves that I believe is dangerous to feed my own child being marketed to other health-conscious moms trying to do the best for their babies.
I wrote to Whole Foods and am awaiting a response. The Hain-Celestial group that makes EB cereal gave me a generic (auto) response. The FDA will tell you they are already addressing the issue and that no violations have occurred in the absence of a federal limit on arsenic in food. However, it remains that it is not on the FDA's radar that EB's packaging has untrue claims. Infant formulas are more highly regulated, but this cereal is not a formula, even though it is intended for infants. This is a serious issue that potentially falls through the cracks.
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Buy Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Now
My 6 month old son has allergic colitis with sensitivities to both dairy and soy. When we gave him Earth's Best Whole Grain Rice Cereal for infants (which does not list any milk or soy ingredients), he had a bad reaction, so I called the company to find out if the tocopherols (vitamin E) in the cereal are soy-based and they said "yes" even though the ingredients on the package say nothing about soy. We were very disappointed in Earth's Best for failing to protect babies with allergies/sensitivities. Fortunately our baby is OK now, and we've switched to HappyBellies cereal which is great and clearly labeled as dairy and soy free.Read Best Reviews of Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Here
I had been feeding my baby this cereal for 3 months when I learned that Consumer Reports had tested this product for arsenic along with many other organic rice products and found it contains inorganic arsenic, the type that results from pesticide residue in the soil. This shouldn't be confused with the arsenic that they will tell you "occurs naturally" if you call. Inorganic arsenic is a know carcinogen and shouldn't be in anything labeled organic. Earth's Best rice baby cereal had the highest arsenic content of three brands tested. However, when I called them, I was disappointed by their lack of accountability and misleading information they provided, especially because their marketing (see above) goes on at length about the health benefits of organic, pesticide free products. They continue to claim that the product is safe, that arsenic occurs naturally, and they don't apply pesticides. However, they cover up the fact that the inorganic arsenic in question is not "naturally occurring," it is pesticide-derived and likely comes from pesticide residue in the soil. I asked if they planned to do testing of their own, implement safety measures and provide refunds to customers who choose not to poison their baby, but they said no. My opinion is that this "organic" product that is supposedly grown "without harmful pesticides" should be recalled and relabeled until they can show that it's arsenic-free. If you are buying this by the case and feeding it frequently to your baby, you may be unintentionally poisoning them.Want Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Discount?
We had read good reviews for the Earth's Best baby food line (including a recommendation in the Baby Bargains book). So, when we began feeding our 6 month old baby boy solids, we were prepared to feed this exclusively except when we could cook for him. He had been getting the whole grain rice cereal and the jarred fruits and vegetables. Two weeks ago, I was making him cereal from a new box (the second time he had been fed from that box) and I found a live beetle larva in the bowl. I looked through the rest of the box and found an outer skin of another. Today, I was talking with a co-worker and she said that they had the same experience with the Earth's Best Whole Grain Rice cereal and now the beetles have infested their home! We suspect that theses are khapra beetles and have alerted the USDS and the FDA. The manufacturer offered to send coupons and said that this is rare, but now I am doubtful that this was just a fluke since my co-worker had the same experience and these were purchased in different states. I am disappointed that it is difficult to find good organic baby food.
