Happy Baby (Nurture) Baby Food Heavy Metals Settlement — Awaiting Approval

Baby Food · Awaiting Preliminary Approval

Estimated Approval Date and When Claims Open

Estimated preliminary approval: October to December 2026. Estimated claim window: opening between late November 2026 and mid-February 2027, and closing between mid-February and early May 2027. These are estimates, not court dates; no ruling date has been set, and the timing is up to the judge.

The basis: plaintiffs filed the unopposed motion for preliminary approval on July 1, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The court has not scheduled a hearing, and Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil had not ruled as of October 1, 2026. On September 29, 2026, class counsel wrote to the court asking it to consider the motion at its earliest convenience and offering any further information it needs. Once preliminary approval is granted, the settlement agreement fixes the rest of the timeline: notice and the claim period begin within 45 days, claims stay open for 75 days, and the final fairness hearing must be at least 200 days after preliminary approval, which on this estimate means roughly May to July 2027.

What Changed Recently?

The parties reached the settlement after an in-person mediation on January 23, 2026, before retired Judge Margaret A. Nagle, followed by months of further negotiation. Plaintiffs filed their motion for preliminary approval on July 1, 2026. With no ruling by late September, class counsel filed a letter on September 29, 2026, asking the court to take up the motion and offering any additional information it might need.

The case dates to February 2021, when a congressional subcommittee report described heavy metals in some baby foods, including foods made by Nurture. Lawsuits followed and were consolidated in 2021. In March 2025 the court dismissed some claims, including unjust enrichment and two California statutory claims, and allowed the rest to proceed. Plaintiffs allege that the possible presence of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and perchlorate made Nurture's marketing of its foods as high quality, nutritious and made with clean ingredients misleading, and that buyers would have paid less had they known. They do not claim any child was physically harmed. Nurture denies the allegations and any wrongdoing, and says trace metals occur naturally in soil, water and air and cannot be completely avoided in fruits, vegetables and grains.

Who Qualifies?

The proposed settlement class is everyone in the United States who bought a Nurture baby or toddler food product from February 4, 2015, through the date the court enters the preliminary approval order. That covers the Happy Baby and Happy Tot lines and every baby and toddler food Nurture marketed, made and distributed during that period, including pouches, jars, puffs, bars, yogis, Greek yogis, creamies, teethers, teething crackers, rice cakes, cereals, bowls, snacks, cookies, baking mixes, formulas and toddler milks.

How Much Can You Get?

Each valid claim pays one of two awards, chosen by the class member:

• A cash award set at $1.00 per claim, paid electronically from the $3.4 million cash fund. Cash awards rise pro rata if claims do not use up the fund, and can fall if claims exceed it.

• A voucher for one free product: Happy Tot Bars, Happy Baby Creamies, Happy Baby Teethers, or Happy Baby Yogis or Greek Yogis, valued at an average retail price of $5.39. Vouchers arrive as an emailed redemption code, are redeemed in store at participating retailers, and do not expire.

Up to five claims are allowed per person without proof of purchase, up to ten with proof, and no more than fifteen per household. At the maximum, that is five or ten cash awards or vouchers.