CLEVELAND — Let’s face it, commercial baby food can be expensive and now it turns out some of it may be tainted.

Arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury are heavy metals that can endanger infant neurological development and long-term brain function.

A report released this month following a recent congressional investigation said dangerous levels of those toxic metals were found in food made by the nation's top baby food manufacturers.

The companies include Gerber; Beech-Nut Nutrition Company; Nurture, Inc., which sells Happy Baby products; and Hain Celestial Group, Inc., which sells Earth's Best Organic baby food.

“We know that children are uniquely vulnerable, especially when their brains are developing so rapidly. And there are other organ systems that are developing so rapidly. Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental exposures, including toxic chemicals,” said Dr. Aparna Bole.

Bole is a pediatrician at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland.

Bole said there need to be stronger regulatory guidelines.

“How do heavy metals get into food? Sometimes it can be in the growing process. It can be that there are heavy metals in the soil. There can be heavy metals in the soil from pollution or that then results in uptake into the food or being on the food. But also clearly, there can be some heavy metals that are added to foods in the manufacturing or processing steps as well,” Bole said.

To eliminate exposure to the manufacturing process, Samantha Probst, mom of 8-month-old Asher, said she skips the baby food aisle and prepares baby food at home.

“By far the cheapest and safest way of getting your baby food is to make it yourself and you know exactly what's going into it. You know what your personal baby and your own preferences are in terms of how much fruit you want to put in it, or if any, and like, if you know your baby really loves a particular item, it's just easier,” Probst said.

Pediatricians said there are many different factors that influence healthy brain development in children and exposure to heavy meals is just one of those factors.

Bole recommends parents don’t panic or beat themselves up if they grab a jar of baby food in a time crunch, but advised parents to look for ways to offer healthy choices to their children.

“Even when we home make our food, there can be contaminants, right. There can be heavy metals. Root vegetables are oftentimes implicated because they're grown in the soil. So even if you're making your own baby food, you know, like I wouldn't offer the same thing three times a day, you know, you still want to vary what you're offering, rinse produce with cool water before you prepare it,” Bole said.

Probst said she isn’t taking any chances until news like this doesn’t exist.

“We've heard of such reports before and it's just alarming that, that was a couple of years ago. And it's just alarming that within a couple of years, they haven't gotten any better. So absolutely, I like to know exactly what I'm putting into the food and it's simple, basic and again, customized to baby,” Probst said.