Key Takeaways
Baby food manufacturers should have no more than 10 parts per billion of lead in baby foods, says the FDANo level of lead is safe for infants and toddlersHealth advocates say the FDA guidance is insufficient
TUESDAY, Jan. 7, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA) released the first-ever guidelines for levels of lead in processed baby foods this week. However, many health and safety advocates say they are not satisfied with the guidance.
Under the FDA’s new guidelines, baby food manufacturers should have no more than 10 parts per billion of lead in baby yogurts, custards, puddings, single-ingredient meats, processed fruits and vegetables, and mixtures of fruits, vegetables, grains and meat.
Yet the new guidance does not cover many other products, such as infant formula, beverages, or snack foods like puffs and teething biscuits.
“Nearly all baby foods on the market already comply with these limits,” Jane Houlihan, research director of Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF), told CNN. HBBF is a coalition of advocates committed to reducing babies’ exposures to neurotoxic chemicals.
Houlihan said the newly released FDA guidelines were ineffective — not to mention unenforceable.
In 2019, HBBF released a report that found toxic metals in 95% of baby foods randomly pulled off supermarket shelves. It led to a congressional investigation that discovered some baby food ingredients contain hundreds of parts per billion of dangerous metals, according to internal documents provided by major baby food manufacturers.
“As it stands, the new lead limits for commercial baby foods would reduce children’s total dietary lead exposure by less than 4% — a negligible improvement,” Houlihan told CNN in an email.
“Lead in infant formula, homemade baby food ingredients and foods bought outside the baby food aisle account for about three-fourths of children’s food exposures to lead,” she added, stressing the need for context.
No level of lead is safe for infants and toddlers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
In fact, there is no level of lead that’s safe for humans of any age, per the Environmental Protection Agency. Lead accumulates in the body over time and is a “toxic metal” that can be harmful even at low exposure levels.
“The FDA is not living up to its responsibility to protect children’s health,” Houlihan said. “As a result, infants and young children will continue to bear the burden of the FDA’s lack of resolve, consuming harmful lead with every meal.”
Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, addressed the release of the guidance and struck a similar note. “The FDA owes parents answers and must enforce these limits immediately to finally protect our most vulnerable population,” he said.
“For years, the FDA’s own data has shown dangerous levels of lead in baby food, yet the agency has dragged its feet while children’s developing brains were exposed to this neurotoxin,” Faber said in an email to CNN.
“The harm is permanent, and the delay has put countless kids at unnecessary risk,” he concluded.
Where Does Lead Come From, and What Makes It Dangerous?
Lead and other heavy metals occur naturally in Earth’s crust, as part of the volcanic process that created much of the continents. However, manufacturing plants, mining facilities and smelting processes also add heavy metals to the environment as frequent by-products.
While the root products are no longer legal, lead-based paint and automobile exhaust fumes from leaded gasoline, have polluted soil and water in the US, according to the EPA.
Children are especially vulnerable because of their small size and developing brains. A dose of lead that would have little effect on an adult can have a significant effect on a child. In children, low levels of exposure have been linked to damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood cells, according to information on the EPA’s website.
Lead poisoning often has no obvious symptoms in children; that is part of the reason CDC recommends blood screening in very young people.
Still, the toxic effects of lead on a child are not reversible.
“Exposure to very high levels of lead can severely damage the brain and central nervous system, causing coma, convulsions and even death. Children who survive severe lead poisoning may be left with permanent intellectual disability and behavioral disorders,” the WHO said on its website.
According to the FDA, parents should not throw away existing baby foods they have purchased, but they should feed young children a variety of foods.
“Eating a variety of healthy foods can make it less likely for an individual to be exposed to the same contaminant from the same food many times and helps to provide the range of nutrients needed for health and, for children, healthy development,” the agency said in a statement.
To get adequate food variety, the FDA recommends that parents and caregivers “feed their children many different foods from the five food groups — vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy, and protein foods — and alternate how often they provide the same food,” according to the agency’s release.
More Information
Nemours KidsHealth provides information about lead poisoning for parents and caregivers.
SOURCE: U.S. Food & Drug Administration guidance document and press release, January 2025; CDC; WHO; CNN.
What This Means For You
While the FDA says parents should not to throw out commercial baby foods, it is good to vary the sources of a child’s diet.
