If you are shopping from California, you will see a Proposition 65 warning on most of our food products. This page explains what it is, why we put it there, and what it does not mean.
What Proposition 65 is
Proposition 65 is a California law. It requires a business to give a warning before knowingly exposing anyone in California to a chemical on a list the state maintains of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm. Lead and cadmium are on that list. Both occur naturally in soil, everywhere on earth, and plants take them up as they grow.
The warning is a disclosure requirement placed on the seller. It is triggered by exposure, not by a product failing a safety standard.
Why it is on our products
We apply the warning across our food catalog rather than product by product, and we would rather say that plainly than have you work it out.
We have not tested individual Gerbs products against California’s exposure limits. What we know is what the category is: our foods are seeds, dried fruit, grains and cocoa, all grown in soil. Rather than guess which items might sit above a threshold and stay silent on the rest, we warn broadly. This is the same approach other sellers of bulk seeds, dried fruit and grains have taken.
What the warning does not mean
- It does not mean the product failed a test. No such test result exists in either direction.
- It does not mean anything was added to the food. Lead and cadmium are not ingredients and we do not use them.
- It does not mean we changed our sourcing, our suppliers or our allergen handling. Nothing about how we make this food has changed.
- It is not a statement about how the product will affect you or anyone in your household.
What we can tell you, and what we cannot
We can tell you exactly what is in every product. Every product page carries the full ingredient statement and, where we have transcribed the label, the nutrition panel. We can tell you how it is made and what we keep out of it: every product is handled by trained staff in our family owned and operated facility in Johnston, Rhode Island, on dedicated non-GMO, vegan and kosher equipment, with no co-packers and no co-manufacturers. The full Allergen Declaration is on every product page.
We cannot tell you how any exposure would affect your health or your family’s, and we are not going to guess about something that matters that much. If you have a specific medical concern, that is a conversation for your doctor, and we are glad to send the full ingredient and nutrition detail so you can take it with you.
Where to read more
California publishes its own explanation of Proposition 65 warnings on food, including what the listed chemicals are and how exposures are assessed. It is the authoritative source and it is not written by us:
If something on this page is unclear, contact us and we will point you to the right place. We are not able to give legal advice about Proposition 65.