For those new to the Lead Safe Mama website:
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!
Crowd-Sourced Fundraising Campaigns
For Upcoming Food Testing
Updated: July 25, 2024
The following GoFundMe campaigns for food testing (food testing that has been requested by members of the Lead Safe Mama online community) are posted / in progress and not yet funded. If you would like to contribute in support of any of these campaigns (even $5 makes a difference!), please click the image below to read about the campaign (including the reasons these particular foods were chosen) and to make a contribution. Thank you!
Published: May 14, 2024
Updated: July 25, 2024
If you are interested in testing your own food samples (for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic), here’s the Lead Safe Mama, LLC affiliate link to the same lab’s food testing submission kits we use for the results we report here on this website: https://amzn.to/3UIPcHP
- Each kit is for testing one single food item (a snack product, or a spice, or an ingredient, etc.)
- Testing food (down to single digit parts per billion levels for Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic, and Mercury) is relatively expensive and we want to acknowledge that most people cannot afford to pay for this sort of testing.
- It is because this testing is expensive, and thus not widely accessible that Lead Safe Mama, LLC is coordinating the food testing we are doing and publicly sharing the test results freely (and not behind a paywall) on this website – LeadSafeMama.com.
- In support of this work, the testing company (GoSimpleLab.com) has generously offered to donate their services for Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s first several rounds of testing as well, and we are so thankful for their assistance in making this critical information publicly available!
- Our very first round of lab-testing (with testing for all six products donated by GoSimpleLab.com and published in March 2024) was for six baby food snacks (and similar processed snacks) — with an emphasis on cassava flour-based products. You can find those test results here.
- Our second round of testing was for eight more products (testing which was also donated by GoSimpleLab.com) — flours, and additional flour-based processed foods (also with an emphasis on cassava flours). Those results were published in May of 2024. You can see those here (this list will be updated shortly as well).
- Our third, and fourth rounds of testing are pending and you can see most of the products we are testing on this link. For the June testing we sent 19 products to the lab. Eight of those nineteen tests were donated by GoSimpleLab.com and they are donating the testing of eight more products in July as well. In July we have already (as of 7/25) sent 29 products to the lab for testing (and we currently have 31 products slated for testing this month).
- Beyond the testing of 8 products each month being donated by SimpleLab, The funding for the remainder of the testing we are doing each month is being crowd sourced through the Lead Safe Mama online community.
How is Lead Safe Mama, LLC choosing what to test first?
Of course, we do not have the resources to test every single food item out there. (I don’t think anyone does — lol!) So, we are initially focusing our limited laboratory testing resources (the testing being donated by GoSimpleLab.com in support of our work) specifically on popular products which have been identified as the likely source of poisoning (or toxicant exposure) for one or more children in families we have worked with (in order to help expose these companies, push for recalls, and demand corporate change), while also focusing on testing some “control” items in the same product-type categories (items we expect to be negative or low for Lead) — this way we can simultaneously provide data countering the B.S. industry narrative that high-level Lead-contamination of food is “unavoidable” or “natural” (in certain product categories).
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If there is a food you heavily rely on that is not on our testing schedule (especially if it is something regularly eaten by a kiddo with a restricted/ limited diet), ordering a lab testing submission kit directly and having it tested yourself might be worth the cost for your family. Here’s that aflink again: https://amzn.to/3UIPcHP
How to sponsor Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s testing of a food product
Alternately, if you would like to sponsor having Lead Safe Mama, LLC test (& report on) a specific single food item (where Lead Safe Mama, LLC buys the item from the manufacturer or a local store, then tests the item and publishes the results so the testing is publicly available for all to see — and so you can share the results with the manufacturer via our website, with Lead Safe Mama, LLC serving as an independent third-party source), you (on your own or with a group of friends) can make a $495 contribution to Lead Safe Mama, LLC.
We are also currently crowd-sourcing the funding for many products suggested by the community on GoFundMe and you can find all of our open GoFundMe campaigns linked at the top of this page (scroll up).
This money (crowd funded, community group funded or contributed by a signle individual) will cover the cost of purchasing the product, testing the product, and reporting/ publishing the test results. Please note: Contributions are not tax-deductible as we are not a nonprofit.
- Cost Breakdown for Lead Safe Mama Sponsored Testing
- $195.00 — Cost of test kit
- $50.00 — Approximate cost of sufficient quantity of the product to be tested – and to also keep some “on file” should corporations challenge our findings (some products will cost more, some less, to meet the required quantity of product for testing)
- $35.00 — Fees (GoFundMe, PayPal, Venmo, etc).
- $170.00 to $215 — Additional Lead Safe Mama costs (testing-related administrative assistance, editing, fees, etc.)
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- $450.00 to $495.00 — Total Estimated Cost
Please note: This budget does not include any amount of funds for Tamara’s time for coordinating the testing and reporting. Tamara is volunteering her time to do this food testing.
Please e-mail Testing@LeadSafeMama.com with “FOOD TESTING” in the subject line if you (alone or with a group of friends) are interested in sponsoring the testing of a particular food item in the above noted way (or if you would like to nominate a food item for a crowd-sourced funding campaign via GoFundMe). Let us know which specific food product you would like to have tested (including the flavor of the product if the product comes in multiple flavors). Please wait for a confirmation email from us before sending any funds (it may take several weeks or longer for us to respond, please be patient). Thank you.
Q. “Why should we pay more to have this testing done by Lead Safe Mama, LLC – instead of just doing it on our own?”
- Sponsoring Lead Safe Mama, LLC to complete the testing (and publish the results on our website and social media channels) carries more weight (in terms of demanding transparency and better standards from the companies whose products we are testing) than testing on your own for your personal use.
- Having Lead Safe Mama, LLC coordinate the testing also means the test results will reach a wider audience / will have a greater public benefit (especially long-term, as all of the results for products we test are published on this website).
- When Lead Safe Mama, LLC coordinates the testing of a product we (as a business) also assume the risk / liability in the event any of the companies attempt to challenge any test results we publish.
- Unfortunately, if you test a product on your own – we cannot publish those test results on our website as we need to oversee the full chain-of-custody for the testing (for legal purposes) – from product purchasing – to sending the product to the lab – to reviewing and publishing the lab report, to limit any potential liability considerations.
Even with the above noted logical points supporting the possible additional benefits of participating in our new crowd-sourced model for this testing, we do want to reiterate that testing on your own for personal use is a completely reasonable course of action if you just want to know what the test results are for a product you eat (or your child eats) on a regular basis!
Supporting the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC – Bigger Picture
If you want to support our food-testing initiatives more generally, you can always support of the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC via the different methods mentioned in this link: https://tamararubin.com/2024/03/has-our-work-helped-you-in-some-way-heres-how-you-can-support-the-work-of-lead-safe-mama-llc-today/.
Hi!
Can you please test organic chocolate chips! I feel so hopeless when it comes to chocolate! We need your help! I’ll sponsor a test! Thank you for all you do.
Yes!!! Please find us some safe chocolate chips!
I don’t think that’s possible – but I will keep looking!
Have you seen my film? The final scene is about chocolate contamination.
Here’s the link: https://tamararubin.com/2023/01/a-link-to-my-film/
T
Hi!
Would it be possible to start a campaign to test ” Nature’s Path, Organic Heritage Flakes Cereal” ? Thank you for all you do.
Thanks for your comment. Will add it to the list of prospective items to have tested.
Thanks for this information. I am considering ordering the Simple Labs food test kit to do myself. I am assuming since it could be used for flour it could also be used for a powdered clay (bentonite clay in capsules). If you know I would appreciate your input. I don’t want to invest in a kit that I can’t use for that. I am also wondering how much material is required for testing, because a bottle of bentonite capsules is only about 1-2 tablespoons of material, I am guessing. Would appreciate your input.
Hi, thanks for your work! Would you please consider testing the Bob’s Red Mill organic rolled oats to compare with the One Degree organic rolled oats you tested? I appreciate your consideration!
Seconded– I would contribute to this GoFundMe! Bob’s Red Mill are our go-to oats.
Please consider testing Serenity Kids Salmon or Bison pouches. As well as Lundberg Organic White Basmati, Regenerative Organic Certified.
Debating on testing myself but would love results to be shared with the public etc.
Is there a better place to request products?
Thank you for all your work!
Wish we could test Earths Best organic veggie puffs cheddar flavor! The bag with the Sesame Street characters on the front. Might do the home test but then it couldn’t be published. Would people be interested in crowd funding this one? We would contribute as well…
Hi!
I appreciate all you do! Would love to nominate a couple popular kid targeted snacks. Annies organic cheddar bunnies (the classic purple box) and Made Good mixed berry or chocolate chip granola bites. Saw you are testing their birthday cake bars, but would love to see testing for the ones that may be targeted as “healthier”