Baby & children
Gerber Good Start GentlePro Infant Formula
FDA warns against homemade infant formula and against diluting formula to stretch it — both have caused hospitalisations. Powdered formula is not sterile: for young or immunocompromised infants, follow the preparation and storage instructions exactly (the 2022 Cronobacter recalls are why those instructions exist).
Formula is scored on the food formula with extra weight on pesticide residue and additives, because exposure matters more per kilogram of body weight in the first years.
Chemistry breakdown
Bar length = weight in the Baby & children formula · color = that component's score · tap a name to learn what it means.
Scored from 75% of the formula's weight. The rest doesn't apply to this product.
Pesticide residue8/10 · 39% weight
Residues left on produce and grains from how the crop was farmed. Organic certification prohibits synthetic pesticides, which is why the same fruit can rate very differently by farming method.
Additives6.7/10 · 28% weight
Preservatives, colorants, emulsifiers and flavorings added in processing — each rated on its own evidence record, from benign (vitamin E as a preservative) to contested (certain synthetic dyes).
Ultra-processing (NOVA)no data · 17% weight
The NOVA scale classifies how industrially transformed a food is, from whole ingredients (1) to ultra-processed formulations (4). Population studies associate heavy ultra-processed diets with worse health outcomes independent of nutrients.
Oils & refined sugars5.5/10 · 8% weight
Refined oils and added sugars — rated by what they are: cold-pressed fruit oils and whole sweeteners like honey rate well; hydrogenated oils and high-fructose syrups rate poorly.
Certificationsnone claimed · 8% weight
Independent third-party verifications (USDA Organic, FSC, EPA Safer Choice…). Informational only — having none never lowers a score; verified claims can raise it.
Ingredients · 12
In label order — the first-listed ingredient counts most in the score. Tap any row for its sources.
- 4Corn Syrup Solids#1 · Sweetener · primary carbohydrate
- 8Organic Whey Protein Concentrate#2 · Whole Food · partially hydrolyzed whey (not organic in Gerber)
- 5Palm Oil#3 · Oil
- 6Soy Oil (formula-grade)#4 · Oil
- 7Coconut Oil#5 · Oil
- 7High-Oleic Sunflower Oil#6 · Oil
- 7Algal DHA (Crypthecodinium Cohnii Oil)#7 · Vitamin Mineral
- 7Arachidonic Acid (Mortierella Alpina Oil)#8 · Vitamin Mineral
- 7Prebiotics (GOS / FOS)#9 · Additive · GOS (HMO 2'-FL in newer SKUs)
- 7Vitamin Premix (infant formula)#10 · Vitamin Mineral
- 6Iron (ferrous sulfate, electrolytic)#11 · Vitamin Mineral
- 6Soy Lecithin#12 · Emulsifier
Made by
- 1977–1984Infant formula marketing in developing countries — the Nestlé boycott and the WHO Code — Marketing of breast-milk substitutes in low-income countries — free samples through health facilities, uniformed 'milk nurses', promotion where clean water for preparation was unreliable — prompted an international boycott and directly drove the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (1981). The practices were deliberate commercial strategy, which is why an international code exists to prohibit them. Monitoring groups have continued to report Code violations in the decades since.
- 2021Nestlé USA v. Doe — Ivorian cocoa child labour claims dismissed on jurisdiction — Former child labourers alleged Nestlé USA aided and abetted forced labour on Ivorian cocoa farms. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the claims could not proceed under the Alien Tort Statute because the relevant conduct was largely outside the United States. IMPORTANT FOR FAIRNESS: the Court decided a jurisdictional question and did not rule on whether the underlying conduct occurred. Marked disputed, not intentional, and not no_finding.