Action levels are not mandatory limits, but the FDA may consider a food to be adulterated if it exceeds those levels, which could lead it to take various enforcement actions.
“The FDA estimates that these action levels could result in as much as a 24 to 27 percent reduction in exposure to lead from these foods,” said the agency’s commissioner, Robert M. Califf, MD, in a statement.
But food safety advocates, including those at Consumer Reports, say that some of the action levels should be even lower. “These proposed limits represent an encouraging first step,” says Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at CR. “But more clearly needs to be done to limit exposure to lead and protect babies and young children. There is no safe level of lead exposure, so manufacturers have to be even more aggressive in reducing the amount of lead in their baby foods.”
The limits could reasonably be set lower for some of these foods. For example, cereals and foods like sweet potatoes could likely be lower than 20 ppb, according to Tom Neltner, senior director for safer chemicals at the Environmental Defense Fund.
In addition, Ronholm says, the FDA didn’t set action levels for lead in snack foods like teething biscuits and puffs, which some tests have shown have higher lead levels than other baby foods. “The FDA should take action on setting strict limits on so-called baby junk food—grain-based snacks such as puffs, rusks, and wafers,” he says.
Currently, the FDA has no limits on the amount of lead allowed in foods except for a recommended maximum level of 100 ppb in candy likely to be consumed frequently by young children. In 2022 the agency issued draft action levels of 10 ppb of lead in apple juice and 20 ppb in other juices. The Environmental Protection Agency also has a limit of 15 ppb of lead in public drinking water and 5 ppb in bottled water.
