May 2024 Independent Laboratory Test Report for Cascadian Farm Organic Purely O’s
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!
Here’s the affiliate link to the test kit Lead Safe Mama, LLC uses for the laboratory food test results we publish: https://amzn.to/3UIPcHP
Published: May 22, 2024 — Wednesday
- We are publishing this short article as a companion piece to our overview article, which discusses (in great detail) the contamination issues with similar flour-based products we have tested.
- This article simply has our social media graphic (above) sharing the toxicant (heavy metals) levels we found in this product with laboratory testing, as well as the actual lab report from testing this product (bottom of the page).
- To read the comprehensive ad-free article (discussing considerations and alternative safer snack choices), click the first link in the “additional reading” section directly below.
- We will be publishing a follow-up piece about this product (and other products we have tested in our second batch of laboratory testing completed this May 2024) shortly.
Some additional reading that may be of interest:
- Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s initial batch of food testing (March 2024), including Serenity Kids Puffs, Siete Cassava Chips, Lesser Evil Puffs, and Happy Baby Puffs 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
- Initial email exchange with Terrasoul Superfoods about their Cassava Flour
- Follow-up email to Terrasoul Superfoods regarding the (questionable) “COA” they share with customers
- 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)
- The Food category of articles here on Lead Safe Mama dot com — there are currently 34 articles in this category
Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking a Lead Safe Mama, LLC Amazon affiliate link, we may receive a percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you.
Laboratory Testing Report for This Product:
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Thank you for testing these. We’ve been buying this exact cereal for my two year old son to munch on occasion as a distraction when we’re out and he’s unable to stay put. Thinking this was a better alternative than the conventional cheerio’s. No matter which way you look it’s impossible to trust brands, organic or not. On occasion I don’t want to feel guilty feeding my son a store bought snack. Disappointed.
It’s very frustrating.
I cannot tell you how many boxes of this cereal my children have consumed over the past decade +! This was always our “go to” cereal – for many years.
When I tested it I knew (with a high degree of confidence) that it would test “non-detect” for Lead (with the low threshold of detection noted on this lab report), but I wasn’t sure about how it would test for other metals.
What I am concluding (based on both batches of testing we have done so far) is that the machined / formed / shaped foods (snacks, cereals, etc.) appear to be more likely to test positive for Cadmium. My hypothesis in these cases is that the machining equipment that forms the shapes likely has cadmium-coated metal components (which wear over time with heavy use). When those components wear – the microparticulates of worn material end up in the food. Again this is a hypothesis – and not confirmed, but I have tested a lot of machining equipment and it is often positive for high levels of Cadmium in the coatings… so it seems like it is a reasonable hypothesis and I will be exploring it further.
T
Any shaker table and weighing station in a food manufacturing company would be where the most wear would happen. The grinding process would. But the moulding is a little different with each product. You do amazing work!
Thank you for this hypothesis. I always like to understand the why of things, it helps me make sense of it. I know it’s just a hypothesis, but it makes sense and it helps to have an idea.
Hi Tamara – any response from General Mills on this?
Is there any ‘safer’ cereal out there??
Thank you for your work.
None that I am aware of – on both points.
We recommend oatmeal for breakfast! Link to one that tested well:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/06/june-2024-laboratory-test-results-for-one-degree-organic-gluten-free-sprouted-rolled-oats/
Aflink: https://amzn.to/3SLUsKO
T
Heritage Flakes might do, also the cereal brand that also makes ezekiel muffins: Food of Life
I think.
Oh no! I’ve been feeding my 1 year old these because we wrongly assumed they would be better than cheerios! How do we know if he has been harmed? What do we look for? I’m so upset because these were my feeding choices for him and he’s so small! 🙁
If you haven’t gotten a BLL (Blood Lead Level) test yet, that’s the best place to start.
Read this:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/06/when-should-babies-be-tested-for-lead-how-often-should-babies-be-tested-for-lead/
Read this:
https://tamararubin.com/2019/02/blood-lead-testing-please-get-everyone-in-the-family-tested-since-you-have-been-living-in-a-house-with-high-lead-paint/
Read this:
https://tamararubin.com/2021/06/but-is-this-dish-or-toy-or-lamp-or-vitamin-or-piece-of-jewelry-or-tibetan-brass-singing-bowl-actually-going-to-poison-me-and-how-would-that-happen-exactly/
Thank you for testing this and your continued testing of food items. I’ve been eating this and the cassava snacks daily and breastfeeding my baby. His primary doctor is unconcerned and making him wait over a month to test his blood lead level. My own doctor sent me to get tested and it is under 1 but how is that possible when I’ve been eating the lead directly, not to mention the lead in my old plates and cat litter? I am hoping I did not poison my baby. I am very upset at his doctor and don’t know how to change his mind about the seriousness of the situation
What was the minimum (ppb) threshold the lab is using for testing? I was just wondering i was considering using simple lab for my own testing and want to see its capability
Hi Roy,
You are commenting on an article with the actual test report from Simple Lab embedded in the article. The low threshold of detection (for each of the metals tested) is there on the report. Just scroll down on this page to see the report.
T
Are you able to recommend a safer alternative? Thanks!
I would also like to know of safer alternatives.
Me as well. We were doing the pink Seven Sundays. But I’ve done Cheerios in the past and switched off of them for fear of glyphosate. Cheetah Chomps (Natures Path) were not a hit and I loved Canadian Farms Fruitful Os before they changed the recipe to be sweeter and have a weird texture. I don’t know what to do for kid cereal now.
We should avoid feeding processed cereals to our kids – start googling ways to get creative with oatmeal and use this brand:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/06/june-2024-laboratory-test-results-for-one-degree-organic-gluten-free-sprouted-rolled-oats/
T
Hi Tamara – are you retesting this? You are retesting 30+ products – what has prompted retesting and what is the list please?
Thank you.
We are not planning on retesting this. We are retesting foods that came back “non-detect” for all where the low threshold of detection was too high.
Hi Tamara – why aren’t your listed thresholds higher for cereal? Per the 2021 Action Levels, there should be more tolerance for heavy metals in cereal. The 2021 Proposed Action Levels should be Arsenic, 15ppb, Cadmium & Lead 10ppb. Why are the lower thresholds being used for your cereal testing?
I discuss this in many of the cereal articles. Most families feed these types of cereals to children as a snack. They are sold as a “first finger food” option. Manufacturers know and push that these foods are eaten by children without milk. The “cereal” levels are for foods that are diluted with milk or water.
More here:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/07/general-mills-cheerios-tests-positive-unsafe-levels-of-lead-cadmium-arsenic-with-independent-3rd-party-laboratory-testing-july-2024/
Tamara