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 six 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!
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Published: July 25, 2024
Thursday
MORE good news, Everyone!
- Jacobsen Salt Co. Pure Kosher Sea Salt (Salt from Netarts Bay, Oregon, USA) is now officially the THIRD food product we have tested and reported on that resulted in “Non-Detect” for the four metals of concern we are looking at when we conduct our laboratory testing on food.
- Here is our affiliate link for the exact product we tested (you may be able to find it at a better price directly from the company — so do check their website, too!): https://amzn.to/4dcbk5L
- Here are links to the two other products we tested that were also negative (non-detect) for Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, and Arsenic with laboratory testing:
- Oats: https://amzn.to/3SqkJ0Z
- Flour: https://amzn.to/3WCtmI9
- What these test results mean is that this product tested “effectively negative” for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic.
- We say “effectively negative” because, as with all laboratory testing, there is a “low threshold of detection” the testing is capable of — and within the context of this low threshold of detection for the testing we completed, this product did not test positive for these four toxic heavy metals.
- While the product could possibly still have heavy metals at trace (very low) levels BELOW our laboratory’s low threshold of detection, it is very important to note that NOT ONLY did this product test non-detect for heavy metals (given our lab’s low threshold of detection), but our lab’s low threshold of detection for the testing and reporting done on this product ALSO falls well below the Action Levels for toxic heavy metals recommended by the scientific and medical community in the proposed Baby Food Safety Act of 2021.
- The MOST IMPORTANT piece of information to share here (the MOST IMPORTANT outcome of testing this product) is that it serves as yet another piece of SOLID EVIDENCE (clearly-demonstrated scientific evidence) of how the proposed Action Levels (included in the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021) are ACHIEVABLE. This is useful information in challenging all the food companies (Lesser Evil, Serenity Kids, Cerebelly, Selina Naturally, Selina Naturally Celtic Salt, Redmond Real Salt, and others) that aggressively defend and are attempting to justify the unsafe levels of heavy metals we have found in their “healthy,” “Purity Award-Winning,” and otherwise touted as “safer,” products.
Here’s the affiliate link again for this product: https://amzn.to/4dcbk5L
Links to laboratory test reports for other salt products we have tested:
Some additional reading & links that may be of interest:
- This is the Lead Safe Mama affiliate link to purchase the test kits we used for this testing.
- Here’s our landing page with links to all the food test results for 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 collaborate with Lead Safe Mama, LLC on the food testing we are doing.
- Check out our Food category of articles here on Lead Safe Mama dot com.
Awesome! They also sell an Italian fine sea salt that I would love to use in a salt shaker. Would you assume that one is also clean? I don’t believe you ever tested that one have you? Thank you so much.
I have this exact question!
So glad to see lab verification Tamara! I have a small bag I bought awhile back. It has an expiration date on it which was earlier this year… I’m using it anyway. Does salt REALLY ever expire? I’ll have check if you’ve ever tested plain old Morton’s iodized salt for reference.
Thanks for all you do!
Jeanne
Is it safe to assume that all their products have the same result? I would want to buy the “Fine Pure Sea Salt, Italian Style” as well as the Kosher, to use as table salt.
No – not safe to assume that. We will be launching testing campaigns for their other salts.
I called the company and they refused to disclose 3rd party analysis of their kosher sea salt.
This is the only sale we use at home. The quality is fantastic! My husband works as a professional chef and they give one of the best wholesale discounts of any of his vendors which makes it entirely accessible for professional kitchens as well as home kitchens.
Very cool!
This is great news. Will you be putting this in your Lead Safe Mama Amazon store so I/we can support your work?
Have you tested the Jacobsen pure Italian fine sea salt?
Not yet.
Brava! Thank you so much for the work you do. Such an important example to other companies that it is achievable!
I can’t seem to get this in the UK without paying a crazy amount of postage and other fees. Is there a UK equivalent at all? Thankyou
I will be working on testing more European products. We have a second French salt at the lab right now.
Woohoo! Celebrating another clean product. I recently shipped this to my extended family members’ households and will commence sharing with everyone else I know (whether they care about what goes into their bodies or not). To all those asking if they can assume Jacobsen’s fine Italian salt is also clean: That is not a logical leap-this product comes from Oregon and the other from Italy! Given the expense of this testing, I suggest you celebrate these results and pulse a cup of Oregon salt in a glass carafe blender til you get a fine grain for your shaker!
Great response!
Do you happen to have a safe container recommendation for holding the Jacobsen salt that comes in the bag?
LOVE THIS!! Ordering now. 🙂 Can we add Ava Jane Kitchen sea salt to the list for Go Fund Mes?? They are hand harvested from a Mexican lagoon.. They claim they have tested 100% micro plastics free and have some test results posted on their website that they are also undetectable for heavy metals at these levels: Undetectable levels:
● Arsenic: < 0.101 PPM
● Cadmium: < 0.100 PPM
● Mercury: < 0.0384 PPM
● Lead: < 0.100 PPM
So I would LOVE to send a donation towards getting them tested… Thank you for all your hard work Tamara!
Thank you.
I visited Peru recently and they have a really cool ancient salt harvesting space in the sacred valley near Cusco. It is pre Incan and still owned and operated by locals (it’s passed down family lines), it’s a spring that is super salty and they evaporate it with a special technique to harvest the salt. Anyway I’m wondering what the heavy metal levels are like, seems like there aren’t any microplastics in them, but I haven’t been able to find any heavy metal testing. It’s called Sal de Maras. I know you’re probably super busy, but if you do get to testing more salt this would be super cool to test! Here’s one site that sells it: https://marasgourmet.com/maras-salt-mines/
Thanks! We all appreciate your work!
Interesting! I am more and more curious about testing food products from other countries.
T
I have this exact question. Hopefully Tamara adds it the Go Fund Me List. Sone websites claim this salt actually helps remove heavy metals. It would be wonderful if this becomes part of the safe bunch after testing
Was just about to purchase this salt on Amazon and got a prop 65 warning before completing the purchase. It says, can expose you to chemicals including Acrylamide. Is this not concerning?
I’m not sure the reasoning behind that -sorry I don’t have an answer for you.
T
Great to see such positive test results for “Pure Kosher Sea Salt from Netarts Bay, Oregon”
Did you also test the “Pure Fine Sea Salt” from Jacobsen Salt Co? Their website says it is harvested from open-air salt ponds fed by the Mediterranean Sea in Trapani, Italy.
I would love it if you could test this “fine” version of their salt, as I find the Kosher Sea Salt granules too large.
https://jacobsensalt.com/collections/pure-sea-salt/products/trapani-canister
Test results for that here:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/09/jacobsen-salt-companys-pure-italian-fine-sea-salt-from-trapani-italy-tests-positive-for-lead-september-2024-lab-report/
Tamara
Thank you. I wonder what Jacobsens think about their Italian salt testing positive for lead – and if they will try to find a safer source.
I called the company for a copy of their analysis on their kosher sea salt. They refused me. If it’s such a good product, why aren’t they more transparent?
I thought you recommended mortons iodized salt for having low levels of heavy metals?
No. That’s not correct. I think you may have confused us with another website? We have not tested Morton’s
Here’s our overview article:
https://tamararubin.com/2020/10/how-much-lead-is-in-salt-which-salt-is-safest-to-use-for-cooking-is-himalayan-salt-safe/
Hi Tamara,
Thank you for your amazing testing, and all the light your sharing! While researching safe salts, I ran across a site with series of salt tests that unfortunately paints a different picture for the Jacobsen Kosher Sea Salt. Have you seen this site? – link redacted – Although they place the Jacobsen in the ‘Best’ category, it still shows an unsavory amount of arsenic, and a bit of cadmium as well. The only truly ‘safe’ salt in the bunch is Diamond Crystal at ND for all except CD, which was MRL- which is that the lab could detect, but not quantify the metal. I’d love to know what you think about all this!
Hi Joy,
That site does not share their actual lab reports, and they do not understand how to interpret the data.
T
Hi Tamara,
Thanks for your reply. I take it’s a Yes, you’ve seen that site!
They might be trying to protect their Lab, who more than likely doesn’t want the liability from ‘naming names’. The road to Truth is fraught with so many a danger!
Should we be, or are you concerned with the high amount of microplastics that are typically in Sea Salt? Or, is it a pick your poison type situation?
I was just listening to the Huberman Lab Podcast and he recommended Pink Himalayan Salt over Sea Salt to avoid higher levels of microplastics, which I know you’ve written about having high amount of lead.
Pink Himalayan is always dangerous. Jacobsen filters for microplastics.
You tested the Kosher and Italian salts from Jacobsen. Thank you for that. Have you tested the Pure Flake Sea Salt? More than likely it is the same as the Kosher Salt, since they’re both sourced in Oregon, but I don’t want to assume anything. Thank you.
Vera Salt is microplastics free and posts their heavy metal testing too