FDA Releases Draft Guidance On Lead Levels In Baby Food

Food and Drug AdministrationFDA) released draft guidelines on Tuesday regarding levels of lead in certain baby and children’s food products.

The guidance This applies to food intended for children younger than two years of age and foods that are processed.

FDA has set 10 parts per billion as the action level for certain produce. This includes vegetables and fruits as well as meat mixes, single-ingredient custards and puddings, as well yogurts. For root vegetables that are one ingredient, the levels are 20 parts per billion, and dry cereals’ levels are also 20 parts per billion.

“For more than 30 years, the FDA has been working to reduce exposure to lead, and other environmental contaminants, from foods. This work has resulted in a dramatic decline in lead exposure from foods since the mid-1980s,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf said.

“For babies and young children who eat the foods covered in today’s draft guidance, the FDA estimates that these action levels could result in as much as a 24-27% reduction in exposure to lead from these foods,” Califf was added.

When deciding on the levels, the agency took into account, with other items, the amount of lead that could be in a food item with no exposure from eating it surpassing the agency’s Interim Reference Level. The agency also noted that while produce and grains are naturally rich in nutrients, they can also be a source of harmful substances.

Although the agency acknowledged that the guidelines were not binding, it will take these levels into account when deciding whether to. “bring enforcement action” In certain circumstances. It anticipates that the recommendations may push the manufacturers of these products under the specified action levels to reduce lead content in their items.

“The action levels in today’s draft guidance are not intended to direct consumers in making food choices. To support child growth and development, we recommend parents and caregivers feed children a varied and nutrient-dense diet across and within the main food groups of vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein foods,” said Susan Mayne, the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition director.

“This approach helps your children get important nutrients and may reduce potential harmful effects from exposure to contaminants from foods that take up contaminants from the environment,” Mayne was also included.

Some noted that the guidelines weren’t quite good enough to do much.

“Nearly all baby foods on the market already comply with what they have proposed,” Jane Houlihan is the National Director for Science and Health at Healthy Babies Bright Futures. said.

Consumer Reports noted that the FDA didn’t recommend levels for “baby junk food,” It claimed that it could, multiple times, have the greatest lead.

“It appears that the proposed standards were set based more on current industry feasibility to achieve the limits and not solely on levels that would best protect public health,” Brian Ronholm, Consumer Reports’ director of food policy said.