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!
Affiliate link to the test kit Lead Safe Mama, LLC uses for the laboratory food test results we publish: https://amzn.to/3UIPcHP
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Advertising and affiliate income help Lead Safe Mama, LLC cover the costs of the work we do here (independent consumer goods testing and childhood Lead poisoning prevention advocacy). We have removed ads from most of our more widely-read articles (and newly published articles, too — like this one!) to make them easier for you to read. In addition to supporting this work by starting any shopping you might be doing with a click on our affiliate links, if you would like to support the independent consumer goods testing and childhood Lead poisoning prevention advocacy work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC by making a contribution (which will also help us keep our more widely-read articles ad-free), click here. Thank you!
Important Background: What is an Action Level?
Please note the following key points.
The original lab report for this product is below (at the bottom of this page).
The graphic above shows the levels of metals detected in this product (in red) along with the low threshold of detection (in green) for each of the metals not detected with the laboratory testing that Lead Safe Mama, LLC had completed for this product. The numbers are juxtaposed to (in blue) the “Action Level” that was proposed by the medical and scientific community in 2021 as part of the Baby Food Safety Act.
- These levels were set as “Action Levels” that are (in fact) protective of human health.
- An “Action Level” is NOT the same as a “Maximum Allowable Level.”
- Once something is as toxic as the “Action Level” it is officially over the threshold and into the realm of heavy metal levels that can cause lasting harm to children.
- The “Action Level” is the level at which the scientific and medical community believes the company (or government) needs to take ACTION to fix the problem (which also includes taking ACTION to inform the public that their product has an unsafe level of the metal detected at-or-above the “Action Level” — and which relevant batch numbers should be recalled/ not consumed).
- These Action Levels are not arbitrary, however they were not passed into law.
- These Action Levels reflect the current advice of the medical and scientific communities as levels both achievable and also protective of infant and toddler health — regardless of the fact that it is not illegal to have food for children test positive at these levels (as the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021 was not passed into law).
- The legitimacy of these levels as “Action Levels”/ “Levels of Concern” (even though they were not adopted as law) is similar to the legitimacy of the America Academy of Pediatrics’ level of concern for Lead in water — which is 1 ppb — even though the FDA’s official “level of concern” for Lead in water is 15 ppb (you can read more about that here).
For safer food choices, click here.
For Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s pick for a safer salt, click here.
To read our salt overview article, click here.
If you are new here, please check out our website menu (link here) to see all of the other types of items we have tested and reported on! Welcome!
Published: June 30, 2024
The Selina Naturally Celtic Salt (pictured in this article) has a level of Lead that is incredibly unsafe for children to consume (even in the trace amounts that one might get with low levels of daily salt consumption). Supporting considerations:
- All federal agencies agree there is no safe level of Lead exposure.
- Lead bioaccumulates over time (it bio-mimics calcium and is stored in the body in place of calcium — especially during periods of significant growth, as one sees with younger children/ children going through growth spurts).
- Given the proposed “Action Level” of 5 ppb for Lead in products consumed by children (regardless of the serving size for any particular product) — the 626 ppb Lead that we found in the Selina Naturally Celtic Salt is extreme (by this and by any other measure).
- Given there are readily available natural sea salts that have next-to-no-Lead (in comparison), it makes sense to choose those salts over a salt like this.
- Here’s one example of a safer salt (our understanding is that this sea salt from Oregon has a test result of “less than 30 ppb Lead” and we will be testing this brand ourselves — in July 2024 — to confirm this): https://amzn.to/4cnWRmL
- The Lead is likely “added” to this Celtic Sea Salt (it doesn’t exist naturally with the salt when it is in the ocean) specifically given the manufacturing process requires that the salt sits in clay beds for drying (and this clay is likely heavily Lead-contaminated — as most natural clay is — especially when considering food toxicity levels for Lead contamination).
- To get any benefit from the alleged “beneficial trace minerals” in this Celtic Sea Salt, you would have to eat a lethal amount of salt.
- In addition to all of the above points, the greenwashing with this particular product and brand is fairly extreme — please take a look at their marketing and website images below (and continue reading below the images to see our actual laboratory testing report for this product).
Takeaway
If you have been feeding this product to your young children (or consuming it yourself), I would stop doing that immediately and consider getting them a Blood Lead Test (to help determine if they have had any exposure of concern from consuming this product). You can learn more about that at this link, and this link. Also, IF you have been seeing a doctor who has recommended this brand of salt, we recommend that you alert the doctor of these findings and also consider finding a new doctor who is aware of the concerns for (and impact of) persistent low level Lead exposure.
Some additional reading & links that may be of interest:
- The Lead Safe Mama affiliate link to purchase the test kits we used for this testing.
- Our landing page with links to all of the results for food products we have tested.
- Here’s how to send your own food samples into a lab for testing (the cost is $195 per single food sample tested for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic) or how to collaborate with Lead Safe Mama, LLC on the food testing we’re hosting.
- The Food category of articles here on Lead Safe Mama dot com.
Kristina says
Holy smokes that’s a frightening large amount of lead! Thankfully my family uses lead-safe salt, but there are lots of families using this salt and being unknowingly exposed to high concentrations of lead. What actions can we take to protect people and get this salt off the shelf, or at least get a warning label put on it? Email the company? Email the FDA?
Van says
Where do you get lead safe salt?
Dee says
For real what is actually safe salt
Tamara says
It’s linked here in this article that you are commenting on.
Kat says
Thank you so much for your work and your tireless pursuit of the truth with regard to these food items! It is so appreciated.
I’ve purchased this salt in the past, partly due to the messaging regarding it being tested and safer than other types of salt! I’m really appalled at these results and intend to email Selina Naturally to request a return/refund and to ask what their intentions are going forward. Can you please say how big the sample size was that you had tested? In general, have you been testing a single serving size of these food items, a whole container, or some other amount? It would really help to put these test results in context for those of us who have been consuming these items.
Again, thank you!
Brenda says
What the @#$%&? I fear this is just the tip of an incredibly toxic iceberg. Had been using this salt until JUST 6 months ago when I saw your testing results and recommendations for Jacobsen’s (the other recommended brand was out of stock for a prolonged period). And yes, this brand of Celtic has been recommended to me by practitioners and wellness gurus (since at least 2015). Have a bag sitting in my pantry.
Thank you, Tamara! You cannot test products fast enough. How do we help you scale? Are you prepared to run for president in 2028 and dismantle the FDA?
Tamara says
LOL – I love this comment. Was thinking about running for president… lol. There are some big things in the works (to scale things up) – I will email you.
T
Emily says
I am just so annoyed that I have been consuming this! Would it be the same for the non ‘fine ground’ variety as we have the course one and grind it ourselves. I’ll be emailing them regardless. Thanks for all your work
Sara says
Wowza! I’m guessing they’ll try to claim ‘well it’s not like water which has a lower standard for lead…you only use a small amount of our salt daily so you won’t be getting as much lead, overall’. Either way you cut it, that’s too high!!
Would love to see results for Original Himalayan Salt brand, as that’s an uber popular one!
https://himalayancrystalsalt.com
Kimberly N says
Omg I am horrified. Have been using this salt for some time.
Sorry if I missed it, but is that how much lead is found in one serving size of the salt??
Thank you for all your work!!!!!!
AJ Rubin says
Hi there! This is AJ (one of Tamara’s sons) I’m helping my mom answer questions 🙂
That’s a great question. The test results are in parts per billion (ppb) which
can be thought of like a percentage (albeit a small one).
In the case of this salt, it tested positive for 626 ppb so that means that for ANY serving size of the salt it will be 0.000000626% lead.
Though that’s a small percentage, the 2021 proposed action level is only 5 ppb! So it just goes to show how extremely toxic lead can be even in small amounts.
Check out the “serving size” section of this article (section 3) for more info:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/06/why-are-clean-label-project-purity-award-winning-products-testing-positive-for-lead-cadmium-mercury-arsenic/
LE says
Have you tested any other sea salts? I saw your rec for Jacobsens sea salt but was wondering if there are others that are safe I can buy locally. Thanks
Mallory H says
Their website even tells you there’s less in this salt from their own nutrient analysis, they just list it differently (not in PPB but in percentage) “Lead – 0.000065%” … same as 626ppb rounded up. Yikes!
Jan says
Vera salt says they are safe and third party tested. Comes from Spain I think.
A says
salted my food to taste with this same salt for both my pregnancies and fed my toddlers. so sad…
Regina says
What’s safe then , we’re running out of options here , from plastic food to lead in salts, aluminum in sodium bicarbonate, and the list goes on and on. By the way the FDA is a criminal organization.
Kelly says
What about Maldon flakes?
Thank you for your work 🙂
Ana says
What about the “gourmet” red label one? Can you cross compare the different kinds? (A reach I know but I’m curious.)
Also yes can you test other brands for tested substitute recommendations? like Redmond real salt? I’ve heard is good.
Thank you for this information and all you do. It’s so helpful I’ve been using this salt and I had no idea. I just want resolve like the rest of us. It would be so helpful if you could continue your research on sea salt and recommend a brand that you test.
Tamara says
Redmond is quite bad – stand by for more tests. Subscribe to the newsletter to be among the first to see the results. 🙂
Tom m Mclachlan says
I’ll continue to use it, they have third party testing
Tamara says
Their testing also shows high levels of Lead.