According to a Consumer Reports investigation, there is lead present in two well-known brands of kids’ snacks, even though there are no government regulations on the amount of heavy metals in infant foods.
The FDA is seeking to establish rules for additional types of baby meals, but for now, it only has limitations on heavy metals in infant rice cereal and juice.
Lead Safe Mama’s Tamara Rubin wrote an article regarding lead-containing LesserEvil and Serenity Kids goods on her website.
Rubin’s business aims to educate parents about potential causes of lead exposure while simultaneously preventing lead poisoning. She alerted others, for instance, when it was discovered that Stanley tumblers contained lead.
Consumer Reports tested four cassava items from LesserEvil and Serenity Kids as well as two products from Once Upon a Farm that contained sorghum after Rubin discovered more recently that snacks based on cassava, such as Serenity Kids puffs, contained high amounts of lead.
LesserEvil’s Lil’ Puffs Intergalactic Voyager Veggie Blend puffs were found to have “more lead per serving than any of the 80 baby foods” Consumer Reports has evaluated since 2017.
The test revealed that the lead content was 112% of the MADLs, or maximum allowed dose limits, set by California Proposition 65.
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Less than half of a serving of the Intergalactic Voyager Veggie Blend puffs should be consumed by children each day, according to James E. Rogers, Ph.D., head of food safety testing at Consumer Reports.
LesserEvil’s Lil’ Puffs Sweet Potato Apple Asteroid and Serenity Kids’ Tomato & Herb, Bone Broth puffs were similarly discovered to have elevated lead levels by Consumer Reports.
Lead levels in Serenity Kids Tomato & Herbs were 53%, while lead levels in LesserEvil’s Asteroid puffs were 60% of the MADLs.
Rogers advised giving kids no more than one and a half servings of puffs per day based on these levels.
Rogers cautioned that individuals might not be aware of how little the puffs actually serve. While Serenity Kids puffs come in a 1 ½ ounce jar with six servings, Intergalactic Voyager Veggie Blend is available in single servings of 17 puffs, according to Consumer Reports.
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According to Consumer Reports, the lead levels in the Once Upon a Farm products were “very low,” ranking among the lowest of any baby food they had ever tested.
“Clearly, some manufacturers need to do a better job of keeping heavy metals out of their snack foods, and there may be some particular concerns about foods made with cassava,” Rogers stated.
Rogers agreed that restrictions on lead and other heavy metals in specific baby food categories had been proposed by the FDA. However, he also pointed out that the category of snack foods was not being examined for lead limits.
“The agency needs to take a hard look at the snacks parents feed their children and make sure they don’t have dangerous levels of lead and other contaminants,” he stated.
According to Jennie Shen, head of brand marketing at Serenity Kids, their puffs have always been safe to eat.
“All of our products test well below the maximum allowable dose levels established by California Proposition 65,” Shen stated. “We have always addressed lead and all heavy metals head-on because we are confident in the safety of our products and ingredients, and because we believe that our products are healthier than the alternatives that exist today.”
Similar to Consumer Reports, Shen stated that not all infant food categories are subject to FDA rules and benchmarks governing heavy metal content. Rather, the government only offers preliminary guidance on the subject.
Without those guidelines, she added, Serenity Kids set its own requirements and subjects all products to the heavy metal exposure criteria set down in California Prop 65, which are among the lowest levels ever made public in the United States.
“Our puffs are completely safe to consume and are compliant with applicable regulations like Prop 65 for heavy metals in the United States based on the recommended serving size,” Shen stated.
According to Consumer Reports, studies have revealed that cassava, which is a component of Serenity Kids puffs, contains significant levels of lead. Lead levels are also elevated in other root vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, and beets.
Lead can be found in soil naturally or as a result of pollution, according to Angelia Seyfferth, Ph.D., of the University of Delaware’s department of plant and soil sciences, in an interview with Consumer Reports. According to her, lead can build up in a plant’s roots but does not disperse very far from them.
Lead levels can also be increased by processing cassava into flour and baking it into snack items.
