If you have read the other articles in this series, you know that lead poisoning is the most insidious and dangerous environmental poisoning of our children today.
Maybe you’ve read the articles in our series on lead poisoning and you know that thousands of children in America are being exposed every single day to dangerous levels of lead in their homes, toys and playgrounds — yes, even in 2024.
Maybe you’ve read that any level of lead is considered unsafe for children and can lead to a host of serious, even permanent, health issues and neurological changes.
But did you know that unsafe levels of lead are still legal in popular children’s food brands? And even illegal levels of lead are often still sold, sometimes poisoning thousands of children before they’re caught? That “organic”, “clean label”, “certified” foods can still contain heavy metals?
In fact, 95% of baby foods contain lead. 25% contain all four heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury). A 2021 report found that heavy metals in baby foods are much higher than the limits set for bottled drinking water. Consumer Reports says the levels of lead in baby foods is enough to contribute to longterm developmental delays and health issues.
“Being a parent is hard enough; receiving a diagnosis of lead poisoning is devastating & overwhelming,” said Jill Mailing, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), holistic sleep coach and early parenting educator who is passionate about helping parents meet their feeding goals and thrive in parenthood. She owns Integrative Lactation Care and Supported Sleep.
“Parents need and deserve safer products, safe drinking water, and better resources to test for lead in their homes and pursue safe remediation if needed.”
Here’s what you should know about what to look for–some foods that have tested high in lead and how to read or find test results that can help you avoid lead-contaminated foods.
The difference between legal and safe.
Out of all the foods to be regulated, you’d think that the government would put the strictest regulations on foods for babies, right? After all, babies are so much more vulnerable than adults or even other children, that even small levels of toxicants can have devastating effects in their bodies.
But no.
Legally, the FDA only limits heavy metals in infant rice cereal and juice.
But the allowable arsenic for rice cereal, 100 parts per billion (ppb) is ten times higher than what’s allowed for bottled drinking water.
The FDA also doesn’t currently sufficiently enforce the limits it sets, allowing foods that don’t follow their (extremely lax) regulations to still be legally sold in the U. S.
Currently, recalls are voluntary by food manufacturers.
What’s a safe level?
The Baby Food Safety Act (BFSA) of 2021 (it’s been reintroduced this year) strictly limits the amount of lead, cadmium, mercury or arsenic in children’s foods. Its limits reference both modern scientific and medical research and deems levels above their “action level” as unsafe for children, causing longlasting harm. The BFSA limits are recommended as most protective of children’s health and are considered reasonable and achievable limits. The recommended limit for lead is 5 parts per billion (5ppb).
RELATED: Lead Poisoning in Children: There is No Safe Level
But the BFSA was not passed into law in 2021 (let’s see how 2024 goes!), so it’s legal to sell foods containing heavy metals that are considered unsafe for children.
However, the BFSA limits are considered by most unbiased experts as the best standard for protecting our children from lead exposure and poisoning via foods.
How do I know what baby/toddler food brands are contaminated?
Unfortunately, this isn’t an easily answerable question.The only organization I’ve found that tests baby and toddler foods at the BFSA levels is Lead Safe Mama LLC, who founded this business after two of her sons were acutely lead poisoned.
Lead Safe Mama LLC uses XRF testing, with the instrumentation that the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission uses, to test foods and other objects for heavy metals–her company has been responsible for five product recalls by the FDA and CPSC.
The bad news, most baby and toddler foods are contaminated. Even formula brands have tested to be high in lead! But your baby or toddler has to eat.
In a future article, we’ll walk you through some foods and brands that have been tested and have safe(r) products. But for this article, we’re going to unpack some companies’ misleading test results so you can know what to look out for and avoid.
Some baby/toddler foods that have tested high for lead
The BFSA’s highest tolerance level for lead is 5ppb.
Some foods that have tested high for lead include:
A variety of puffs (see below);
Amara smoothie melts (35ppb);
Little Spoon Curls (12ppb);
CauliPuffs cauliflower snack (8ppb);
One Degree Brown Rice Crisps (16ppb);
Parm Crisps (9bbp).
For a landing page of food test results, or to see if your favorite snack has been tested, check out Lead Safe Mama LLC’s food test results here.
If it’s “Clean Label Purity Award certified,” that means it’s safe, right?
When my triplet toddlers were diagnosed with lead poisoning earlier this year, I was aghast and livid to discover that the expensive, allergen-free, “Clean Label Project Purity Award” puffs I’d been shelling out for (such as Serenity Kids Grain Free Puffs) all tested high for lead.
Specifically, the Serenity Kids broccoli and spinach puffs tested at 24ppb, and the tomato and herb puffs tested at 30ppb. As a reminder, the BFSA’s highest level for lead is 5ppb.
Compare to Happy Baby Sweet Potato and Carrot Puffs, which tested at 9ppb–or Lesser Evil Paleo “no cheese” Puffs, which tested at nondetect lead, which is great! (Although it contained higher levels of mercury.) However, Lesser Evil’s sweet potato puffs had some of the highest levels of lead, according to Consumer Reports.
I will say that Serenity Kids is still leaps and bounds better than most of the baby foods on the market. Sometimes as parents, we are deciding between the lesser of the two evils (no pun intended). Many processed and packaged foods are going to have unideal elements, and often parents just make the best choice they can with limited options.
How do I read misleading test results by baby food companies?
Several baby food companies have released their own test records, or have released statements after their foods have been tested and found to have heavy metals.
Some companies or certification programs say they “test for heavy metals.” But they don’t make sure they are free of heavy metals before selling. In other words, they test the products — but even if the products have results that are higher than the BFSA, the companies still sell the product, but pat themselves on the back for having “tested them”.
A perfect example is the response from Serenity Kids in regard to the discovery of heavy metals in their food that are greater than the BFSA (but remember, still legal since the FDA doesn’t adequately enforce heavy metals), which says in part:
“But while most produce can be found to contain heavy metals, we test our [produce] regularly. […] The Lead Safe Mama article raised concerns about cassava, a root vegetable […]. Cassava contains many valuable nutrients, but like all vegetables grown in the ground, it is more susceptible to heavy metal contamination. […]
Our Grain Free Puffs […] exceed the health and safety standards for heavy metals addressed by California’s Prop 65 law […]. The lead limits referenced by Lead Safe Mama were those proposed in the the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021, which was not adopted.”
This response tells us that although Serenity Kids Puffs tests their products, they do not meet BFSA regulations (though they do meet current regulations).
The Clean Labels project says it tests food, like Serenity Kids’ Puffs, for “200 contaminants”. However, it does not say those foods are free of those contaminants. The tricky word is designed to mislead you, the consumer, into thinking that foods that are “tested” ergo “test free” of the items they’re tested for.
Even the Environmental Working group, a watchdog organization whose mission is to bring awareness to industry loopholes and poor legislation that hurts the health of people and the environment (and has a very helpful website — I use them frequently myself!) has often given good ratings to products that test high in lead, so it’s important to understand there are limitations of companies actually understanding the danger of lead, and testing accurately for it.
The biggest takeaway for us, as parents, is to realize that, “tested for xyz” doesn’t mean it’s free of xyz.
A separate note for parents who may have been exposed to lead themselves and are debating if formula vs. breastmilk is safer.
Mailing affirms that there’s no need for breastfeeding parents to stop, even if they’ve been exposed to or tested high in lead. “Infant formulas have also been found to contain concerning levels of lead and other heavy metals,” Mailing said.
“Testing both the nursing parent and the baby is recommended to determine the best course of action for the dyad. However, in most cases, even if a parent has known lead exposure, it is generally recommended to continue nursing as the overwhelming benefits of human milk outweigh the miniscule amount of lead that may pass through the nursing parent’s milk to the baby. Human milk contains protective immune factors that counteract the harmful effects of lead.”
Specific processed foods that consistently test high for lead:
Cassava-based products.
Cinnamon.
Imported candies.
Lead Safe Mama, credited by Consumer Reports as a business responsible for multiple recalls of lead-contaminated products, recommends its readers follow her to stay up-to-date on her testing of processed foods.
Stay tuned for our next article on the baby and toddler foods that are SAFE from lead contamination!
