Snack puffs for kids found to have alarmingly high levels of lead

WASHINGTON (SOA) — Toxic, brain-damaging lead lurks in food for babies and toddlers. The Spotlight team reported on contamination of purees detected all the way back in 2017. Last year, hundreds of kids were poisoned because of tainted cinnamon applesauce. Now, there's a disturbing new chapter involving snack food. Some of the worst contamination ever detected among tested baby foods has been revealed, and inaction by the federal government continues to put kids at risk.

It's a go-to snack that kids love. With labels like 'organic,' and 'no added sugar,' parents trust that snack puffs are healthy.

But as new testing revealed, some of the puffs, featuring cassava root, one of the latest trend ingredients, were found to contain alarming amounts of lead.

Consumer Reports discovered levels of lead higher in the cassava root puffs than anything they'd detected in any baby food test since 2017.

Tom Neltner, National Director of Unleaded Kids, says it's important to pay attention to the use of cassava, a root crop like potatoes and carrots.

Root crops can absorb heavy metals like lead from the soil, posing a danger of contamination, and requiring that snack makers perform rigorous testing and careful sourcing.

Consumer Reports tested four snacks from two brands that make cassava root puffs: Lesser Evil and Serenity Kids. All four samples tested contained lead.

The highest levels were in Lesser Evil Lil' Puffs Intergalactic Voyager Veggie Blend. They contained more lead than any of the 80 baby foods Consumer Reports tested since 2017. To learn more about how Consumer Reports tests, click here.

"What was interesting is that some of the cassava products didn't have high levels and others did, which suggests there's opportunities to lower the level and you really need to do quality control," said Neltner.

If companies are missing the mark, the FDA is charged with ensuring a safe food supply. The agency was supposed to set limits for heavy metals in baby foods years ago as part of its Closer to Zero program, but it still hasn't done it, forcing parents to blindly trust what's in products they buy for their kids.

Even if the FDA finally sets standards for contaminants in baby food, those closest to the issue tell us they're not expected to be rigorous, they won't be enforceable, and they won't even include snacks, which we now know can be among the most contaminated products.

"They eliminated all the snacks, like teething biscuits or these puffs," said Neltner. "Those are among the highest levels of lead and often arsenic in them, so it was disturbing to us that they exempted those from the scope of their action levels."

Neltner has called for the agency to include snack puffs in any future guidelines.

Spotlight on America asked the agency if it will do so. The FDA told us "we have requested comment about consumption patterns and exposure to lead from this source. As we gather additional information, we can determine the best regulatory approach for these types of food products." Given that science broadly recognizes that there is no safe level of lead, Neltner and others wonder what additional information is necessary to determine the neurotoxin shouldn't be in food provided to babies and toddlers.

Neltner told us the FDA doesn't examine every factor when it comes to setting protective standards.

"They don't do a cost benefit analysis. We know the damage it causes to kids' brains. We know the lost lifetime earnings that the kids will have," Neltner said. "They don't do that analysis. Instead, they look at the market and say, 'what can we do that won't disrupt the market?' That's not what common sense requires."

On its web site, Lesser Evil released a statement saying it was 'dismayed' by the news, but claimed it tests its products and confirmed they meet safety standards. Still, the company says it will phase out cassava flour.

Serenity Kids wrote on its site that it vets suppliers to use the cleanest possible ingredients and said all of its puffs exceed all applicable health and safety standards.

The lowest levels of lead were found in puffs made by Once Upon A Farm, which are made with sorghum.

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We continue to push for answers from the FDA about why they have failed to take concrete action to clean up the baby food industry, despite years of calls from parents, lawmakers, scientists and pediatricians. This spring, we put our years of reporting in one place: a half hour special called Toxic Inaction. You can watch it here.