What foods should babies never eat?

What the evidence says

Honey should never be given before age 1 - it can contain bacterial spores that cause infant botulism, a serious paralytic illness. This applies to any product with honey in it, including on a soother. Health Canada's Botulism Reference Service notes this is the one food clearly linked to infant botulism in Canada, and cooking or heating does not destroy the spores.

Cow's milk as a main drink should wait until 9-12 months, and Health Canada specifically advises starting with homogenized (3.25%) milk rather than skim or partly skimmed milk before age 2. Unpasteurized milk, juice, and cheese should also be avoided, since young children's immune systems and stomach acid are less able to fight off the bacteria these can carry. Choking hazards are a major concern: hard, small, round, or smooth-sticky foods (whole grapes, hot dogs, hard candy, nuts, seeds, popcorn) should be avoided or modified (cut, grated, cooked soft) well past the first year, with Canadian sources flagging risk up to age 4.

Raw eggs or products with raw egg should be avoided too, due to salmonella risk - all eggs should be cooked well. Beyond these clear-cut risks, guidelines recommend limiting added sugar and added salt (both offer no nutritional benefit and can crowd out nutrient-dense foods), avoiding fruit juice before 12 months, skipping herbal teas and caffeinated or artificially sweetened drinks, and limiting high-mercury fish such as fresh/frozen tuna, shark, swordfish, and orange roughy. Common allergenic foods like peanut and egg are actually now recommended to be introduced early (around 6 months, not delayed), just prepared in age-appropriate, non-choking forms such as thinned peanut butter.