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Heavy metals in baby food: what the FDA’s Closer to Zero plan and the 2021 House report found.
Updated
Arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury in baby food: the FDA’s Closer to Zero plan, its January 2025 lead action levels, the 100 ppb infant rice cereal limit, what the February 2021 House subcommittee report found, and what parents can do.
Quick answer
Arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury occur in soil, water and air, so trace amounts reach many foods. The FDA’s Closer to Zero plan (started 2021) aims to reduce babies’ exposure to them as far as possible. The FDA issued final lead action levels of 10 or 20 parts per billion for processed foods for babies and young children in January 2025 and has a 100 ppb limit for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal. When it launched the plan, the FDA said testing shows children are not at an immediate health risk from these foods and that reducing exposure matters for long-term effects. This site has no heavy-metal test data for baby foods.
- FDA plan
- Closer to Zero, 2021
- Lead action levels
- 10 or 20 ppb, Jan 2025
- Infant rice cereal
- 100 ppb inorganic arsenic
- Catalog test data
- None
01 · A closer look
What Closer to Zero is.
Announced April 8, 2021, the FDA plan sets out to reduce exposure to toxic elements in foods eaten by babies and young children to the lowest levels possible. It works in a cycle of evaluating the science, proposing action levels, consulting stakeholders and finalizing them, and says it wants to avoid unintended harms such as making nutritious foods unavailable or unaffordable. The FDA states that action levels do not establish a permissible level of contamination. At the plan’s launch it said Total Diet Study testing shows children are not at an immediate health risk from exposure to toxic elements in foods, and that reducing exposure is important to minimize potential long-term effects.
FDA: action plan for reducing exposure to toxic elements from foods for babies and young children (Apr 8, 2021)02 · A closer look
Lead: final action levels in January 2025.
The FDA’s final guidance covers processed foods intended for babies and young children under two years old. The action level is 10 ppb for fruits, vegetables other than single-ingredient root vegetables, mixtures including grain- and meat-based mixtures, yogurts, custards and puddings, and single-ingredient meats, and 20 ppb for single-ingredient root vegetables and dry infant cereals. The FDA considers the levels achievable when manufacturers take steps to minimize lead, and its January 2023 draft estimated exposure from these foods could fall by as much as 24 to 27 percent.
FDA guidance for industry: action levels for lead in processed food intended for babies and young children (final, January 2025)03 · A closer look
Arsenic, cadmium and mercury.
For arsenic the one finalized number is the 100 ppb action level for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal (August 2020). As of the Closer to Zero page updated January 6, 2025, the FDA listed arsenic and cadmium action levels as planned for 2025 with final guidance targeted one year after each draft, and mercury, mainly from seafood, under evaluation with the FDA and EPA fish advice. Check that page for newer drafts.
FDA: Closer to Zero, reducing childhood exposure to contaminants from foods (content current as of Jan 6, 2025)04 · A closer look
What the 2021 House report found.
In February 2021 a House Oversight subcommittee published a staff report based on internal documents and test results from four baby food manufacturers who responded to its November 2019 request; three others declined. The report cited finished products that tested as high as 180 ppb inorganic arsenic and 641 ppb lead, ingredients that tested as high as 913.4 ppb arsenic, and mercury as high as 10 ppb in finished products, and said manufacturers often tested ingredients rather than finished foods. These are company records requested in 2019 and describe those firms’ products at that time, not today’s shelves, and they predate the FDA’s lead action levels.
U.S. House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy: baby foods are tainted with dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury, staff report (Feb 4, 2021)05 · A closer look
What parents can do.
The FDA says testing results that detect a metal do not necessarily mean a food should be avoided, and recommends a varied diet of vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein foods, which also limits exposure to a contaminant from any single food. It suggests oat, barley or multigrain iron-fortified infant cereal as an alternative to rice cereal. For individual advice about feeding your child, ask your pediatrician.
FDA: lead in food and foodwares (content current as of Jan 6, 2025)06 · A closer look
What this site covers.
CleanFoodScore reads ingredient labels for added sugar, oils, dyes and other additives. It does not hold laboratory heavy-metal results, so it cannot say which baby foods are lower. We do not list baby food products yet; the baby and toddler shelf will show only what its labels say. Where a brand publishes lot-level testing, review that document directly.
Primary sources
Sources
- FDA: action plan for reducing exposure to toxic elements from foods for babies and young children (Apr 8, 2021) fda.gov
- FDA: Closer to Zero, reducing childhood exposure to contaminants from foods (content current as of Jan 6, 2025) fda.gov
- FDA guidance for industry: action levels for lead in processed food intended for babies and young children (final, January 2025) fda.gov
- FDA: action levels for lead in categories of processed baby foods (Jan 24, 2023) fda.gov
- FDA: guidance for industry, action level for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereals (constituent update, Aug 5, 2020) fda.gov
- U.S. House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy: baby foods are tainted with dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury, staff report (Feb 4, 2021) oversightdemocrats.house.gov