The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced new guidelines to set maximum levels for lead in baby foods, including jarred fruits and vegetables, dry cereals, and yogurts. This move is part of an ongoing effort to reduce young children’s exposure to lead, a toxic metal known to cause developmental and neurological damage.
The FDA’s final guidance, which was issued on Monday, aims to reduce lead exposure in processed baby foods by approximately 20% to 30%. Although the limits are voluntary for food manufacturers, they give the FDA the authority to enforce actions if foods exceed the established levels.
This initiative is part of the FDA’s broader goal to reduce dietary exposure to harmful contaminants like lead while ensuring that nutritious food remains accessible to consumers. The agency emphasized that it seeks to lower lead exposure “to as low as possible over time.”
Consumer advocates, who have long campaigned for stricter regulations on lead in children’s foods, have expressed support for the new guidance, but some argue that it doesn’t go far enough. Thomas Galligan, a scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stated, “FDA’s actions today are a step forward and will help protect children. However, the agency took too long to act and ignored important public input that could have strengthened these standards.”
While the new limits apply to baby foods for children under 2, they do not include grain-based snacks, such as puffs and teething biscuits, which some studies have shown to contain higher levels of lead. Additionally, the guidance does not address other toxic metals, like cadmium, which have also been found in baby foods.
Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, criticized the limits, calling them “virtually meaningless” because they were based on industry feasibility rather than prioritizing public health.
In response to the new limits, a spokesperson for Gerber, a major baby food producer, confirmed that its products meet the FDA’s established levels for lead.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has long maintained that there is no safe level of lead exposure for children. Lead poisoning can cause a range of health issues, including brain and nervous system damage, and can hinder growth and development. Although lead is found naturally in some foods, it often comes from environmental pollutants, making it difficult to eliminate entirely.
Under the new guidelines, the FDA has set a lead limit of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for most fruits, vegetables, grain and meat mixtures, yogurts, custards, puddings, and single-ingredient meats. A slightly higher limit of 20 ppb has been set for single-ingredient root vegetables and dry infant cereals. These limits apply to packaged, processed foods sold in jars, pouches, tubs, or boxes.
The announcement comes after a series of lead-tainted pouches of apple cinnamon puree sickened over 560 children between October 2023 and April 2024, as reported by the CDC. Lead levels in those products were more than 2,000 times higher than the FDA’s newly established maximum. While the FDA emphasized that it does not need additional guidance to take action against non-compliant products, it hopes the new limits will provide greater clarity moving forward.
