US: FDA takes new efforts to reduce lead in juice
Earlier this week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its draft guidance, which provides information to companies and manufacturers on the action levels for lead in ready-to-drink juices and juice blends. This is part of the agency’s effort to reduce the consumers’ exposure to toxic elements in foods. Lead can migrate into juice through sources such as equipment and machinery used to make juice.
Lead is known to be toxic to humans and can have adverse impacts on people’s health, regardless of age or health status. Especially, lead can be very harmful to vulnerable populations, including infants, young children, pregnant women, and their fetuses, and others with chronic health conditions.
The action levels specified in the draft guidance are recommended limits of lead in juice, which the industry can achieve and progressively lower. Specifically, the limits recommended are 10 parts per billion (ppb) for lead in ready-to-drink apple juice. For all other ready-to-drink juice types, including juice blends containing apple juice, the action level is 20 ppb. The current action level was established in 2004, which is 50 ppb.
According to FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D., “exposure of our most vulnerable populations, especially children, to elevated levels of toxic elements from foods is unacceptable. This action to limit lead in juice represents an important step forward in advancing FDA’s Closer to Zero action plan, which we are confident will have a lasting public health impact on current and future generations.”
The FDA calculated the action levels for lead in juice using its interim reference level (IRL) for lead, which is based on the measure of the contribution of lead in food to blood lead levels. It is estimated that the level of 10 ppb action level established could lead to a 46% reduction in exposure to lead from apple juice in children. Meanwhile, the establishment of an action level of 20 ppb could result in a reduction of 19% in exposure to lead from all other juices. Because apple juice is the most consumed juice by children, the FDA issued a lower draft action level for this type of drink.
The draft guidance is open for comments until the end of June 2022, before being finalized.
Sources:
US: heavy metals in baby food, Maryland proposes law for stringent testing
The State of Maryland is taking proactive measures to prioritize the safety of baby food products with the introduction of House Bill 97, widely known as "Rudy' [...]
Inorganic arsenic in food poses health concerns, EFSA confirms
A recent risk assessment by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has confirmed the long-standing concerns regarding the health risks associated with exposure [...]
