The pouches are being pulled from store shelves because of a potential risk of Clostridium botulinum contamination, which can cause botulism, a sometimes life-threatening condition that you clearly don’t want to mess around with.

In a letter on the Plum Organics website, founder Gigi Lee Chang explains that “after a routine test determined the formulation was incorrect. Plum Organics immediately investigated the matter and confirmed that a mixing error was to blame which resulted in an improper blend of carrots and apples.”

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A new site called What’s On My Food just launched this week. It is a godsend for moms everywhere who are concerned about pesticides in our and our babies’ food, not to mention water systems and the air. Did you know that the average American child gets five plus servings of pesticides in their food and water daily? Did you know that Atrazine, a potent endocrine disrupter banned in Europe, is found in 71% of US drinking water? What’s On My Food is full of horrific little tidbits like these and provides easy-to-grok visual breakdowns of pesticides in common foods.

Pesticides are a big problem for little bodies.

Babies and children have high metabolisms and they eat and drink significantly more, in relation to body weight, than adults, all of which further concentrate pesticide deposits in their tissues and still-developing internal organs. Pesticides and other pollutants can interfere with proper sexual differentiation; they can also cause other birth defects and multigenerational health problems such as allergies, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and cancer in the individual, that individual’s offspring, and subsequent generations.

So what can you do?

1. Put your money where your mouth is (buy organic)

Yes, it can be more expensive. But think of all the purchasing decisions we make in a day or year. Think of all the silly things you’ve spent money on. In my opinion, buying organic is one of the most important ways we can vote with our wallets. Buying organic from your local farmer’s market is even better.

2. Grow your own veggies

Gardening has come a long way in the last decade. It has become much simpler, and even chic, to grow what you put on your table. Plus, gardening gives kids first-hand knowledge of where their food comes from. Check out Sustainable Urban Gardens for tips and ideas for how to do it yourself.

3. Use Environmental Working Group’s shopping guide (pdf or super cool iPod app)

Environmental Working Group has been around since 1993 and specializes in providing useful resources (like Skin Deep and the Shoppers’ Guide to Pesticides in Produce) to consumers while simultaneously pushing for national policy change. The shopping guide provides a list of “The Dirty Dozen”, (must buy organic) and “The Clean 15″ (foods that are not as critical to buy organic because they absorb less pesticides).

4. Read Marion Nestle’s What to Eat

Nestle walks readers through every supermarket section–produce, meat, fish, dairy, packaged foods, bottled waters, and more–decoding labels and clarifying nutritional and other claims (in supermarket-speak, for example, “fresh” means most likely to spoil first, not recently picked or prepared), and in so doing explores issues like the effects of food production on our environment, the way pricing works, and additives and their effect on nutrition. It is a great, often funny read, and a good way to educate yourself on something we ingest multiple times a day.

As citizens and consumers, our actions are critical, particularly with something as important and pervasive as food.

Photo courtesy of Tarlyn via Flickr under Creative Commons license.

Or are they?

In this weekly series, we’ll be looking at several baby essentials that really aren’t.  They may be useful in certain situations, but if money or space is tight, or if you’re just looking to simplify and reduce consumerism and waste, here’s how to get along just fine without these so-called “essentials.“

In Part 1, we questioned the crib.   Part 2 bemoaned the bucket.  Part 3 scrutinized the stroller.  Part 4 ditched the diapers.  Part 5 scrubbed the tub.  Part 6 busted the brain boosters.  This week, we banish the baby food!

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When I found out I was pregnant with my first child, there was really no question in my mind that I’d be making baby food. Ensuring a healthy diet and knowing that my son would be getting the necessary nutrients were my determining factors. I also wanted to be in charge of what was going into my son’s system and wanted to be able to offer him a wide palate of foods.

I knew this couldn’t be done if I bought food from a jar at the grocery store. How often do you see eggplant, collard greens, and zucchini purees at the grocery store? Unless it’s an organic gourmet baby food line such as Yummy Spoonfuls it’s highly unlikely you’ll find less common veggies and even fruit.

To be in control of my son’s first start with solids I knew I’d have to make his baby food from scratch. If making his own food meant being aware of the ingredients, then I was willing to take that plunge and go for it. I’d much rather know what was going into my son’s food then always worry and have to read each and every label. With all the preservatives, chemical, added sugar, salt and starch it made absolute sense to avoid those factors and just make it.

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Many of us grow our own food and simply mush, blend or puree food for our littlest ones.  However, there are those times when you are out and about with baby at meal time.  That’s when its really nice to have a baby food you know is organic, natural and safe for your little one.  When purchasing baby foods, we like Earth’s Best.

Earth’s Best has introduced “Celebrate the Firsts“, a program for parents to gain access to discounts and rewards.  To help get the word out, they are offering one of our readers a gift pack of Earth’s Best Baby Products.

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I couldn’t help it. You see there was this box of TV dinner looking things. They’re frozen meals that look an awful lot like a Lean Cuisine (with some important differences I’ll get to soon), so I thought that I’d rather not give it to the kids straight away. I thought I’d try it myself.

Honestly, I do not like frozen, prepackaged food. I don’t trust it and I don’t want to eat it. I certainly don’t want to put most of what’s in the freezer section into my kids.

I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted like real food.

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My neighbor has an infant who is just adding solids (squishy ones) to her diet. Like many other really great parents my neighbor wants to feed her daughter good organic foods. She loves the idea of making it herself and freezing it all into little cubes a la Martha Stewart.

But she’s too farking tired.

In any event, the UPS guy came and brought her this.

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The lids don’t fit properly once they’re opened, which is a shame, or I could use them to store the food we’re making. The necks are smaller than the jars, which makes it annoying to feed him out of them, or I could use them as dishes. (Might do that anyway, actually, since we tossed out all the plastic in the kitchen a while back thanks to reports about safety issues on our sister blog Eco Child’s Play.)

While I investigate other brands in hopes of better reusability, what the heck can I do with all these bitty jars?

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Parents are often looking for a healthy alternative to the standard, sugary, preservative-filled birthday cake for their baby’s introduction to the wonderful traditions of birthdays. We’ve heard from parents looking for ways to buy an egg-free cake, to those seeking recipes for “healthy” cakes, or even whether to make/buy two cakes (one for Baby, one for adults).

Here are some ideas that keep the tradition of the birthday cake treat, but add some healthy twists (you can use these ideas for any age!):

Egg-free: If your baby has not been introduced to whole eggs by their first birthday, this is probably not the occasion to give them a try. Many egg substitutes contain eggs, so to be safe, look for cake and frosting mixes labeled “vegan” which are free of all animal products. You’ll need to go to a health food store to find these products. Or jump on the Internet, Vegan Baker is one company that offers cake and frosting mixes. If baking is not for you, many urban cities also have vegan bakeries too – check the Yellow Pages or ask someone at a vegetarian restaurant.

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