A California regulation went into effect this month that marks a significant milestone in preventing infant exposure to heavy metals. The new regulation requires manufacturers to disclose heavy metal levels in baby food.
This regulation is part of the California law (AB-899), which was enacted last year. The law codified a regulation for baby food in the state, requiring manufacturers to test a representative sample for four key toxicants: arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury.
Starting this year, baby food manufacturers must make these test results publicly available on their website for all products produced after January 2025. A QR code on baby food products sold in California will link to the product’s toxicant test results.
An example of how the new baby food labels may look. (Source: CNN)
This regulation comes on the heels of several highly publicized cases of dangerous levels of lead in baby food. In one test from Consumer Reports, 68% of 50 tested samples had “worrisome” levels of heavy metal contamination. The Clean Label Project conducts investigations into food safety using consumer chain of custody sampling and testing and has advocated for more stringent regulations in baby food ingredients.
There is no safe amount of lead in the body, and for infants and children, the effects of lead poisoning can be especially devastating, affecting intellectual development.
While the law is only in effect in California, it has positive implications for the larger North American market. Major baby food manufacturers are rolling out the new products—with QR codes linking to heavy metal test results—across the U.S.
“AB-899 sets a critical benchmark for baby food manufacturers, many of whom are already rejecting lots with elevated heavy metals to meet these stringent new standards. However, with these domestic regulations now in place, it raises an important question: where are these rejected lots ultimately ending up?” said Jaclyn Bowen, Executive Director of the Clean Label Project.
“While it’s great to see this new regulation being put into effect to protect children’s health in the United States, we need to do more to protect the health of children in low- and middle-income countries,” said Jack Caravanos, Senior Technical Advisor for Pure Earth.
In anticipation of the new regulation, Unleaded Kids and Consumer Reports reached out to several baby food manufacturers to see which companies were disclosing heavy metal test results. Only a select few were making toxicant tests publicly available, as of 2024.
Regulations like CA AB-899 put new tools in the hands of parents and caretakers enabling them to make informed decisions about their children’s health, making children safer from heavy metal poisoning.
Pure Earth works primarily in low- and middle-income countries, but we know that pollution has no borders. Pollutants like lead and mercury often enter the global food supply from other countries and are added to products distributed around the world.
Food ingredient supply chains are complex and tracing data can be hard to come by. We hope the data generated by this new regulation brings some transparency and easier traceability so producers and consumers can both benefit from a safer food system.
Pure Earth is sharing this important policy development with our global teams so they can inform their stakeholders and government partners of this leap forward in consumer protection.
We hope that this regulation will spur additional transparency throughout the global food supply chain. Identifying and calling out low-quality producers may impact the whole industry, helping to prevent harm from heavy metal exposure worldwide.
