A recent study has reportedly detected inorganic arsenic (Asi) in organic brown rice syrup (OBRS), a prepared foods sweetener sometimes used in lieu of high-fructose corn syrup. Brian P. Jackson, et al., “Arsenic, Organic Foods, and Brown Rice Syrup,” Environmental Health Perspectives, February 2012. Researchers evidently sought to determine “the concentration and speciation of arsenic (As) in commercially available brown rice syrups, and in products containing OBRS including toddler formula, cereal/energy bars, and high energy foods used by endurance athletes.” Their results purportedly indicated that OBRS “can contain high concentrations of Asi and dimethylarsenate (DMA),” raising concerns about products such as organic toddler milk formula that use OBRS as a primary ingredient. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a February 17, 2012, statement pledging to expand “its surveillance activities” in response to the study’s claims. The agency has also commissioned its own research on arsenic in rice and rice…
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The U.S Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have announced a February 23, 2012, public meeting in College Park, Maryland, to provide information and receive public comments on draft U.S. positions to be discussed at the 6th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF) on March 26-30 in Maastricht, The Netherlands. CCCF is responsible for establishing or endorsing maximum levels “for contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants in food and feed.” Agenda items will include draft maximum levels for melamine in liquid infant formula, arsenic in rice, and deoxynivalenol and its acetylated derivatives in cereals and cereal-based products. See Federal Register, February 3, 2012.
U.S. Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have proposed legislation (H.R. 3984) that would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish standards for arsenic and lead in fruit juices within two years. Titled the “Arsenic Prevention and Protection from Lead Exposure in Juice Act of 2012,” or the “APPLE Juice Act of 2012,” the proposal is designed to “protect children from harmful health effects of significant juice consumption,” the lawmakers said in a joint press release. Calling for lead and arsenic to be as strictly regulated in juice as they are in bottled water, the lawmakers said the bill came in response to a Consumer Reports investigation revealing “alarmingly high levels” of the toxins in apple and grape juice in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. “We must ensure that the juices our children drink are safe, particularly when 70 percent of the apple juice…
A California resident is seeking to certify a nationwide class in a lawsuit alleging that Walgreens Co. 100% Grape Juice and 100% Apple Juice contain “dangerously high levels” of lead and arsenic. Boysen v. Walgreen Co., No. 11-6262 (N.D. Cal., filed December 13, 2011). According to the complaint, the levels of lead and arsenic in these beverages are higher than FDA limits on these chemicals in bottled water, and the company fails to disclose information about the contaminants on product labels or in advertising. The plaintiff alleges that California includes lead and arsenic on the list of those substances known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive harm, but does not otherwise include a Proposition 65 claim. Alleging unfair business acts or practices and false or misleading advertising under California law, breach of implied warranty, and unjust enrichment, the plaintiff seeks restitution; actual, statutory and punitive damages; injunctive relief; attorney’s…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is evaluating current allowable levels of inorganic arsenic in apple juice in response to consumer groups’ demand for tighter restrictions. In a November 21, 2011, letter to Food & Water Watch and the Empire State Consumer Project, FDA said, “we are seriously considering setting guidance or other level for inorganic arsenic in apple juice and are collecting all relevant information to evaluate and determine an appropriate level.” Earlier this year, Mehmet Oz, M.D., highlighted concerns about arsenic in apple juice during his nationally syndicated TV show, details of which were highlighted in Issue 410 of this Update. According to FDA guidelines, apple juice cannot contain more than 23 parts per billion (ppb) of inorganic arsenic, which is found in pesticides and can be harmful if consumed at high levels over a long period of time. FDA Deputy Commissioner Michael Taylor told a news source…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a consumer update reassuring the public about the safety of apple juice after a TV talk show claimed that certain brands contain high levels of arsenic. Mehmet Oz, who hosts “The Dr. Oz Show,” apparently sent 50 apple juices samples to EMSL Analytical, Inc., which measured total arsenic levels as high as 36 parts per billion (ppb) in one sample. After learning of the results, FDA sent two letters to the show’s producers asking them not to air the segment, not only because the results seemed “erroneously high” but also because the laboratory only considered the total amount of arsenic. “As we have previously advised you, the results from total arsenic tests CANNOT be used to determine whether a food is unsafe because of its arsenic content,” stated FDA in its September 9, 2011, letter. “We have explained to you that arsenic occurs…
Consumer advocacy organizations have written to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to report the results of tests conducted on apple juice, showing arsenic levels above federal tolerance levels for drinking water. The organizations, Food & Water Watch and the Empire State Consumer Project, urge FDA to “establish tolerance levels for arsenic in food” and “to focus its import surveillance resources on imported juice concentrate as a product of concern and increase its testing of those imported products.” One apple juice sample apparently contained 55 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water tolerance level for arsenic is 10 ppb. According to the groups’ letter to FDA, the agency has admitted that it has “established a ‘level of concern’ when arsenic levels exceed 23 parts per billion, but has no actionable levels for regulatory purposes.” See Food & Water Watch News Release, July…
“Forty years before it was removed from paint, pediatricians had enough evidence of lead’s ability to maim children’s brains—catastrophically and irreversibly—to warrant discussion in a medical textbook,” opines Sandra Steingraber in the March/April 2011 edition of Orion Magazine, where she posits that not only is the developing brain more vulnerable than the adult brain to social and nutritional environments, but “that neurotoxins can act in concert with each other” and “that the chemicals designed to act as neurobiological poisons—the organophosphate pesticides—truly do so.” In addition to summarizing studies on the effect of lead, arsenic, mercury, and other substances on developmental health, Steingraber highlights the latest research suggesting that organophosphate pesticides created to attack “the nervous systems of insect pests…have the same effect in humans,” interfering with “the recycling of the neurotransmitter acetycholine, one of the messaging signals that flow between neurons.” In particular, she cites studies purportedly showing that “organophosphate…
A forthcoming study has allegedly identified “high levels” of arsenic in rice-based baby foods, as well as elevated levels of iron, molybdenum and manganese in infant formula. Karin Ljung, et al., “High concentrations of essential and toxic elements in infant formula and infant foods – A matter of concern,” Journal of Food Chemistry, August 2011. According to media sources, researchers from the Unit of Metals and Health at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm tested leading baby food brands for toxic and essential elements, finding that the samples contained more micrograms of arsenic and other toxins than occurs in breast milk. “These elements have to be kept at an absolute minimum in food products intended for infant consumption,” warned the study authors, who also noted that “[d]rinking water used to mix powdered formula may add significantly to the concentrations in the readymade products.” Meanwhile, the British Specialist Nutrition Association has publicly refuted the…
U.S. Representative Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) has introduced a bill (H.R. 1486) that would amend federal labeling laws concerning trans fat content in food. The Trans Fat Truth in Labeling Act of 2011 would “direct the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to revise the federal regulations applicable to the declaration of the trans fat content of a food on the label and in the labeling of the food when such content is less than 0.5 gram.” Effective 18 months after the date of enactment, the law would (i) “require that the nutrition information on the label or labeling on an applicable food contain an asterisk or another similar notation and a note to indicate that the food has a low trans fat content per serving” and (ii) “prohibit the label or labeling on an applicable food from indicating that trans fat content per serving is zero.” Applicable foods would be defined…
