F.D.A. Proposes limits for lead in baby food

The agency estimated that the guidelines could reduce young children's dietary exposure to lead by about 25%.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed maximum limits for the amount of lead in baby foods like fruit and vegetable puree and dry cereal, after years of studies found that many processed products contained levels known to pose a risk of neurological and developmental harm.

The agency released draft guidelines, which would not be mandatory for food manufacturers. The guidelines, if passed, would allow the agency to take enforcement action against companies that produce food that has exceeded the new limits.

"C' is really important progress for babies," said Scott Faber, vice president of public affairs for the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that had urged the agency to take action to eliminate metals from foods. . “We were grateful that the F.D.A. a and the Biden administration has made reducing toxic metals in baby food a priority. snacks that also contain high levels of heavy metals. And they don't limit other metals, like cadmium, which the agency and many consumer groups have detected in infant foods in previous years.

Jane Houlihan, research director for Healthy Babies Bright Futures, a nonprofit, called the guidelines disappointing. "It doesn't go far enough to protect babies from neurodevelopmental damage caused by lead exposures," she said. “Lead is present in almost all of the baby foods we tested, and the action levels the F.D.A. has set will influence almost none of these foods.”

She said the limits would address some of the higher levels they found, but more broadly seemed to "codify the status quo."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there is no safe level of lead for children, who absorb the heavy metal more easily. The F.D.A. proposed setting a lead content of less than

10 parts per billion in yogurts, fruit or vegetables and less than 20 parts per billion in root vegetables and dry infant cereals.< /p>

The limits "would result in significant reductions in lead exposures from food while ensuring the availability of nutritious foods," according to an F.D.A. Press release. The move is part of the agency's Closer to Zero initiative, which aims to reduce young children's exposure to toxins such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury.

The changes "will result in long-term, significant and sustained reductions in exposure to this contaminant from food," said Dr. Robert M. Califf, commissioner of the F.D.A. The guideline would allow the agency to identify foods as "adulterated" if they contained levels above the limits, then request a recall, seize products, or recommend criminal prosecution.

The agency estimated that the proposed levels could reduce the dietary lead exposure of some young children by about 25%. According to the F.D.A., low levels of lead exposure in children can lead to "learning disabilities, behavioral difficulties, and lower IQ." as well as immunological and cardiovascular effects.

In 2020, the F.D.A.