Heavy metals in baby food: what the 2021 report found, and what has changed since

By Bloom · · 5 min read

In February 2021 a congressional subcommittee published a report with a title most parents remember: "Baby Foods Are Tainted with Dangerous Levels of Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury" [1]. Five years on, here is what the report actually measured, what the FDA has done since, and where the same metals show up in rice, juice, chocolate and candy.

What the report found

The House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy asked seven baby food makers for their internal test results. Four sent them: Nurture (HappyBABY), Beech-Nut, Hain Celestial (Earth's Best Organic) and Gerber. Campbell (Plum Organics), Walmart (Parent's Choice) and Sprout Organic Foods did not cooperate [1].

The data from the four companies showed inorganic arsenic, lead and cadmium in their baby foods, and mercury in the one company's products that were tested for it [1]. The report also found that the companies' own internal standards allowed high levels, and that products were sometimes sold above even those standards [1].

The most quoted numbers come from this report: results "up to 91 times the arsenic level, up to 177 times the lead level, up to 69 times the cadmium level, and up to 5 times the mercury level" [1]. Two details matter when you read them. The levels they are compared with are limits for bottled water (10 ppb arsenic, 5 ppb lead, 5 ppb cadmium) and drinking water (2 ppb mercury), because at the time there were almost no limits for baby food. And the highest results include tests of ingredients, not only of finished jars and pouches [1].

Four of the seven brands named in the report sell organic lines. These metals come from soil, water and processing, and organic rules do not set limits for them.

What the FDA has done since

The FDA's response is a plan called Closer to Zero, which sets "action levels": the amounts at which the FDA may treat a food as adulterated. They are guidance, not law, and the FDA expects them to fall over time [2][4].

The FDA has also proposed lead limits for juice, 10 ppb for apple juice and 20 ppb for other juices, but that guidance is still a draft from 2022 [7].

Rice and juice

Rice has more inorganic arsenic than other foods, in part because the rice plant and grain take it up more readily than other crops [16]. That is why the FDA's first arsenic limit for a baby food was for infant rice cereal [5]. The FDA says fetuses, infants and children are particularly vulnerable to arsenic. It also says that finding arsenic in a food does not by itself mean the food should be avoided, and it advises eating a variety of nutrient-dense foods [8].

Chocolate

In December 2022 Consumer Reports tested 28 dark chocolate bars and found lead and cadmium in all of them. For 23 bars, eating one ounce a day would put an adult over California's maximum allowable dose for at least one of the two metals; 5 were over for both [9]. Consumer Reports notes that this comparison is not a test against a legal limit [9]. Its 2023 follow-up of 48 chocolate products also found lead and cadmium in every one, with dark chocolate generally higher than milk chocolate [10].

A 2024 study in Frontiers in Nutrition looked at 72 dark chocolate and cocoa products tested between 2014 and 2022. It found 43% above California's lead level and 35% above its cadmium level, while 97% were below the FDA's interim reference level for lead. The median product was under the California levels, so a few products drove most of the results. The authors wrote that a single serving of most products may not pose appreciable risk for the average person, but that several servings a day, added to other sources, could. Organic products were significantly more likely to have higher levels of both lead and cadmium [11].

Candy

Since 2006 the FDA has recommended that candy likely to be eaten often by small children contain no more than 0.1 ppm of lead [12]. The FDA and California health officials have warned about lead in some imported candies from Mexico, mostly those made with chili powder or tamarind [12].

In January 2026 the Florida Department of Health reported "elevated" arsenic in 28 of 46 candies it tested [13]. Its lab method measured total arsenic and did not separate inorganic arsenic, the more toxic form, from organic forms, and candy makers dispute the findings. There is no FDA arsenic limit for candy.

When contamination is acute

In late 2023, cinnamon applesauce pouches sold under the WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis brands were recalled. The FDA traced the problem to cinnamon contaminated with lead chromate [14]. The CDC identified 566 cases of lead poisoning across 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico; 542 were children under 6, and 311 were under 2 [15].

What the agencies advise

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Sources

  1. US House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy. "Baby Foods Are Tainted with Dangerous Levels of Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury," staff report, 4 February 2021 oversightdemocrats.house.gov
  2. US FDA. "FDA Issues Final Guidance for Industry on Action Levels for Lead in Processed Food Intended for Babies and Young Children," 6 January 2025 fda.gov
  3. US FDA. "Action Levels for Cadmium in Processed Food Intended for Babies and Young Children: Draft Guidance for Industry," October 2026 fda.gov
  4. US FDA. "Closer to Zero: Reducing Childhood Exposure to Contaminants from Foods." fda.gov
  5. US FDA. "FDA Issues Final Guidance for Industry on Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Infant Rice Cereals," August 2020 fda.gov
  6. US FDA. "FDA Issues Final Guidance to Industry on Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Apple Juice," June 2023 fda.gov
  7. US FDA. "Action Levels for Lead in Juice: Draft Guidance for Industry," April 2022 fda.gov
  8. US FDA. "Arsenic in Food." fda.gov
  9. Consumer Reports. "Lead and Cadmium Could Be in Your Dark Chocolate," December 2022 consumerreports.org
  10. Consumer Reports. "A Third of Chocolate Products Are High in Heavy Metals, CR's Tests Find," October 2023 consumerreports.org
  11. Hands JM, Anderson ML, Cooperman T, Balsky JE, Frame LA. "A multi-year heavy metal analysis of 72 dark chocolate and cocoa products in the USA." Frontiers in Nutrition 11 (2024): 1366231 doi.org
  12. US FDA. "Guidance for Industry: Lead in Candy Likely To Be Consumed Frequently by Small Children," November 2006, and supporting document fda.gov
  13. Florida Department of Health. "Florida Releases Candy Testing Results Under Healthy Florida First Initiative," 26 January 2026 floridahealth.gov
  14. US FDA. "Investigation of Elevated Lead & Chromium Levels: Cinnamon Applesauce Pouches (November 2023)." fda.gov
  15. Troeschel AN, Buser MC, Winquist A, et al. "Investigation of Lead and Chromium Exposure After Consumption of Contaminated Cinnamon-Containing Applesauce — United States, November 2023–April 2024." MMWR 74 (2025): 239-244 cdc.gov
  16. US FDA. "Arsenic in Rice and Rice Products" and the March 2016 risk assessment fda.gov
  17. CDC. "Lead and Chromium Poisoning Outbreak Linked to Cinnamon Applesauce Pouches." cdc.gov

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