Email exchange with Terrasoul Superfoods regarding their organic cassava flour, which tested positive for high levels of Lead (via laboratory testing)
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Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her four sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005).
- Tamara owns and runs Lead Safe Mama, LLC — a unique community collaborative woman-owned small business for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety.
- Since July of 2022, the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been responsible for five product recalls (FDA and CPSC).
- All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable.
- Please check out our press page to see some of the amazing coverage of our work so far this year!
The chart below is from the United States’ baby food regulatory standards proposed in 2021:
May 16, 2024 — Thurdsay
Yesterday we published test results for Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Cassava Flour.
With independent laboratory testing conducted by Lead Safe Mama, LLC, this flour tested positive for a very high level of Lead. The 2021 proposed baby food legislation set an “Action Level” (a level at which action should be taken to address the concern, action which might include alerting customers of Lead contamination when a product contains a level that could be harmful to children) of 5 parts per billion for Lead. This flour, which is sold with the buzz words “Gluten Free,” “Organic,” “Nutrient-Dense,” “Foods For Optimum Health,” and “Non-GMO-Verified” on the package, tested positive for 146 parts per billion LEAD. The full laboratory report for this product can be found at the bottom of this article.
You can read the initial/ preliminary article we published with the test results (below) and a warning graphic (above) that we shared on social media — follow this link.
If you are interested in testing your own food products for Lead, this is a brief article about the testing we are performing, including a link to the exact food test kits we are using for this reporting.
In response to publishing the laboratory test results for this Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Cassava Flour, a member of the Lead Safe Mama community posted the following comment on our original article:
“Thanks for all these testings! I recently checked their COA for cassava flour and the result was 40 ppb for lead. I already thought it wasn’t good enough. So I didn’t buy it. But it’s interesting that it is actually way higher.”
This comment led us down the “rabbit hole” of exploring the Terrasoul Superfoods website, where we learned they have aggressively marketed the fact that they are “transparent” and committed to doing better than other companies — plus, they have a policy of making batch-specific laboratory test results for their products available to customers who request this information. Here are some screenshots from their website taken yesterday (continue reading below the images):
Email #1)
Email #2)
Email #3)
We are now just waiting for a response from Terrasoul Superfoods — hopefully with documentation of their internal test results for the batch we tested. The only possible scenario that I can imagine in which they were not aware of the high test results for this particular batch is the possibility that they did not test this batch, so I am very interested in seeing how this turns out! As always, I will publish any future correspondence with the company here on the Lead Safe Mama website.
Tamara Rubin
Owner — Lead Safe Mama, LLC
Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on a Lead Safe Mama, LLC affiliate link, we may receive a percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you.
Some additional reading that may be of interest:
- Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s initial batch of food testing (earlier this year), including Serenity Kids, Siete Chips, Lesser Evil, and Happy Baby products
- Lesser Evil’s response to our testing
- Serenity Kids’ response to our testing
- Test results for Bob’s Red Mill Cassava Flour
- Test results for Otto’s Naturals Cassava Flour
- Test results for Quay Naturals Cassava Flour
- Test results for Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Cassava Flour
- How to send your own food samples into a lab for testing (the cost is $195 per single food sample tested for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic)
Full Test Report for Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Cassava Flour:
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Go Tamara! Keep up the great work!
You are truly doing gods work and I am so thankful for you. Thanks for helping keep people safe in this age where you can’t trust anyone or anything that has something to sell.
Thank you.
Have they responded yet? Thanks for exposing these companies. It’s all about profits and there needs to be stricter standards for these companies. I buy all my superfood powders from this company so it’s super concerning to me.
No additional response – although I sent this to them:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/05/my-husband-read-this-my-latest-response-to-terrasoul-and-laughed-out-loud-and-told-me-how-much-he-loved-me-that-i-should-be-a-lawyer/
Tamara
Should we assume that anything with cassava/tapioca flour or starch is likely to be unsafe for lead?
Hi,
I’m curious if you ever got a reply? It seems like it’s been long enough for them to investigate the situation.
no reply