FDA Finds Low Lead Levels in Canned Fruit, Juices

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly “completed its most
recent check of amounts of lead in some commercial juice and food products
that contain fruit,” finding no cause for consumer concern. FDA tested apple
juice, grape juice, peach slices, pears, mixed fruit, and fruit cocktail in response
to a 2009 study by the Environmental Law Foundation, which sent notices “to
numerous manufacturers of juice and packaged fruit products alleging the companies were not in compliance with the California Safe Drinking Water
and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as California Proposition 65,
because the manufacturers failed to disclose that the products contained
lead.”

According to the most recent results, “Almost all the products FDA tested
contained a small amount of lead, but in each case the level found would
not pose an unacceptable risk to health.” The agency has further explained
that lead in soil “can be deposited on or absorbed by plants, including plants
grown for food,” and thus “many food products would be expected to contain
very small amounts of the element – in the range of parts per billion (ppb).”
See FDA Statement, November 10, 2010.