Baby food manufacturers can limit the risk of heavy metals in their products by sourcing their products from areas known to have lower levels of those harmful substances. For example, CR’s testing of rice in 2014 showed that rice from California had lower levels of arsenic than rice from Texas.
Different growing strategies can also help. For example, arsenic levels in rice can be reduced by alternating between wetting and drying fields, or growing rice in raised furrows instead of in a constant flooded state, Houlihan says. More and more farmers are adopting those techniques, she says.
Another approach some farmers are taking is growing rice that’s less likely to have high levels of arsenic. For example, basmati rice may have lower levels than other types, according to Deyssenroth, of Columbia University. Processing can matter, too: Because arsenic tends to accumulate in the outer parts of rice, brown rice tends to have more arsenic than white.
Eliminating products containing rice is also something baby food manufacturers can do to make their products safer. Beech-Nut has done this, the company told CR. That’s a welcome development, says CR’s Keating. “A child doesn’t need to eat rice to be healthy,” she says. “There are other nutritious grains that can substitute.”
Stricter standards on the amount of heavy metal allowed in baby food could help, too, says Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at CR.
The FDA has taken steps forward on this recently. In 2020, it set levels for the amount of inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal (100 parts per billion), and this year, it established levels on inorganic arsenic in apple juice (10 ppb). If a manufacturer’s product exceeds these levels, the agency may remove them from the market. However, the levels don’t yet apply to any other food that children regularly eat.
For lead, the FDA has even more work to do, Ronholm says. He says the agency has proposed levels for heavy metals in some baby foods, as part of its Closer to Zero action plan. But those rules are not yet finalized, and it’s unclear when they will be. In addition, snack foods, like puffs, aren’t one of the categories the FDA has put forward lead levels for. And CR experts think the proposed levels—10 ppb to 20 ppb, depending on the food—are too high.
“It appears they were based more on current industry feasibility to achieve the levels, and not solely on the levels that would be optimal for protecting public health,” Ronholm says. CR would like to see the FDA set a goal of having no measurable amounts of cadmium, lead, or inorganic arsenic in children’s food—and use the most sensitive testing methods to determine the presence of those metals.
An FDA spokesperson told CR, “It is crucial to ensure that measures taken to limit arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury in foods do not have unintended consequences—like eliminating from the marketplace foods that have significant nutritional benefits or reducing the presence of one element while increasing another.” They also said that the agency is reviewing comments on its proposed action levels for lead and is also working to establish action levels for inorganic arsenic, cadmium, and mercury in children’s foods. The agency expects to finalize the lead levels in 2024, and propose levels for the other heavy metals in the next year or two.
“CR’s findings highlight the need for the FDA to move faster on setting levels for all types of baby food that would apply to all heavy metals,” says Michael Hansen, PhD, senior scientist at CR. “First up should be a level for snack foods, as we have found they have some of the highest levels of heavy metals, and children eat so much of them.” And because many parents make their own baby food or feed children what they eat themselves, the agency should also set levels for high-risk foods in general—not just the products intended for babies—Hansen says.
The FDA said it was gathering information about consumption of grain-based snacks by children and potential exposure to heavy metals from those foods. “As we gather additional information, we can determine the best regulatory approach for these types of food products,” the agency said.
The agency is also looking into ways to reduce exposure to heavy metals from foods that both children and adults eat, including “potential strategies to mitigate the uptake of environmental contaminants in crops.” But the spokesperson did not provide a timeline for this.
