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FDA proposes new lead limit in baby food

This week, the FDA proposed new limits on the amount of lead in baby food.

“The baby food that we have right now is incredibly safe. It is very safe,” said Dr. Joe Aracri, System Chair of Pediatrics for AHN.

And that’s why he doesn’t want parents to be alarmed by the FDA’s decision this week to limit the amount of lead in baby food.

“I think what is happening is the FDA is trying to make it even safer by lowering the allowable limits of lead in baby food,” said Dr. Aracri.

If the new proposed guidelines are finalized, the FDA says they could reduce kids’ exposure to lead by 27%.

Lead gets into baby food from the soil that the food is grown in.

“Children have a developing brain. So as the brain is developing, lead toxicity can lead to a delay in that brain development,” said Dr. Aracri.

In Allegheny County, Dr. Aracri says there is not a ton of lead toxicity in children.

In 2018, Allegheny County enacted a new policy that all kids have to be tested for the lead when they’re 9 months old and 2 years old.

If you’re considering making your own baby food instead of buying the jars at the store here’s what Dr. Aracri thinks:

“At least in the store baby food, it is being test and quantified so you know exactly what’s in the baby food. So in that response, making your own isn’t necessarily safer.”

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