I just updated this graphic and shared it on Instagram with the text below.
Here’s an updated list… and, in the meantime… Simple Mills be like “we comply, we comply, we do our best…” yet they have the HIGHEST Lead levels of any of the SEVEN chocolate treats we have tested and published reports for so far. @simplemills, STOP deflecting blame. No one eats a single serving size in a sitting — Prop 65 and other compliance measures are based on servings sizes (not practical applications evaluating ACTUAL consumption levels, which always tend to be greater than serving sizes and eaten with greater frequency of consumption than estimated by food manufacturers). Toxicity exposure based on serving size is a measure that is SIMPLY NOT protective of human health (especially not protective of children’s health)! SIMPLE MILLS, you have nearly five times the amount of Lead levels that M&M’s have! (GROSS!) Simple Mills, you have nearly six times the 2021 proposed action level for Lead. Simple Mills, you have significantly more Lead than the January 2023 FDA guidance for food intended for consumption by children. (That’s nearly 50% more of one standard and nearly three times another!) HOW can you justify having HIGHER Lead levels than chocolate CANDIES? Come on! Folks, this is what you get for buying food from a company founded by a “Management Consultant” (per the founder’s bio) — not a person who is an expert in foods and health.
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 amazing coverage of our work so far this year!
Here’s our affiliate link to the test kit Lead Safe Mama, LLC uses for the laboratory food test results we publish: https://amzn.to/3UIPcHP.
This is an ad-free article.
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!
For more information please read the articles linked here:
1. Safer food choices:
1.a. Lead Safe Mama Lab-Tested Safer Foods (Food that have tested “non-detect” for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Arsenic with independent [third-party] laboratory testing):
https://tamararubin.com/2024/07/lead-safe-mamas-landing-page-for-lab-tested-safer-foods/
1.b. Safer Snack Ideas:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/06/are-you-suffering-from-snack-paralysis-are-you-concerned-that-all-snacks-test-positive-for-lead-here-are-some-safer-snack-ideas-for-your-kids/
1.c. Generally Safer Foods:
https://tamararubin.com/2017/03/which-foods-have-lower-lead-levels-tamaras-food-list-including-foods-we-try-to-avoid-at-all-cost/
1.d. More on the Safer Foods Conversation (Plus Guidelines):
https://tamararubin.com/2023/03/my-favorite-organic-coffee-some-of-my-thoughts-related-to-choosing-safer-lead-free-foods/
1.e. Baby Food Considerations:
https://tamararubin.com/2021/02/the-heavy-metals-in-baby-food-conversation-simplified-what-parents-need-to-know/
2. Lab Report for Milk Chocolate M&M’s:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/08/m-ms-test-positive-for-a-surprisingly-low-level-of-lead-but-a-level-that-is-still-unsafe-for-kids-to-consume/
3. Lab Report for Unreal Milk Chocolate Gems:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/08/unreal-milk-chocolate-gems-test-positive-for-unsafe-levels-of-lead-higher-than-m-ms-and-cadmium-too-see-laboratory-report-here/
4. Lab Report for Unreal Dark Chocolate Coconut Bars:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/08/unreal-dark-chocolate-coconut-bars-test-positive-for-unsafe-levels-of-lead-and-cadmium-see-laboratory-report-here/
5. Lab Report for ZBars in Chocolate Brownie:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/08/clif-kid-organic-chocolate-brownie-zbars-test-positive-for-unsafe-levels-of-lead-and-cadmium-see-laboratory-report-here/
LL says
Hi, Tamara have you seen this video https://youtu.be/RzWWOQMLttE?si=swYRrHw1updRjhyU on chocolate – seems HU was tested as well. Could we test their recommendation? Blueprint? I am curious to find a chocolate alternative. I was also thinking what about nutella and aldi hazelnut spread ?