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365 Whole Foods Market Organic Morning O’s Test Positive for Unsafe Levels of Lead, Cadmium, & Arsenic — September 2024 Lab Report

2024· 2024 Article· 2024 Food Article· Food· Food Testing

  

Quick Summary:

We were a bit surprised by the lab test report results for this product. As with other similar oat-based, O-shaped, cereal products, we expected to find some level of Cadmium (a known carcinogen) — but the level of Lead we found was unexpected. Another member of the Lead Safe Mama community had a different box of this product tested (independently, raising funds for the testing from a group of parents) and their test results were different (showing positives for Cadmium, as anticipated).

Our intention with this product is to test it again (from another batch) to see what the range of test results might be. It is possible the Lead level we found in this initial test (shown in the graphic and lab report below) is a batch-specific issue (possibly an isolated issue). It’s also possible there is a full range of contamination given different batches of ingredients and potential impacts from processing machinery. We have archived this particular box of cereal (we have some of this sample in storage), and may test a second sample from the same box to reconfirm the results.

In both cases, the testing results showed levels indicative that the product is not safe for young children to consume. So while the exact numbers between cereal boxes were different (for whatever reason, batch specific concerns or otherwise), the overall outcome was the same. This is a product that tests positive for one or more toxicants at unsafe levels.

Note Re: Low Thresholds of Detection for this Report

  •  This report — similar to some of the other reports we are publishing this month — references different “low thresholds of detection” for some of the metals we are testing for (different than some reports we have shared previously).
  • If you look back through the history of laboratory testing Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been coordinating (of foods and supplements) since we began this initiative in March 2024, the low thresholds of detection have varied across this time period.
  • Given we are using a network of labs (SimpleLab is a network of labs, not a single lab) for our laboratory testing, this may happen periodically.
    • The lab we use to test a product may determine the confidence level for their low threshold of detection (for testing a specific product or product type) to be different than the level other labs have determined for similar products/product-types tested.
  • While we would ideally prefer the low thresholds of detection for each metal we are testing to fall at-or-below the 2021 proposed action levels, for reports (like this one) where one-or-more toxicants have been found present with levels at-or-above the 2021 proposed levels of concern for children (discussed in detail below), this information is still quite relevant since these findings indicate the product falls in a range possibly/ likely unsafe for children’s consumption (when referencing the 2021 proposed health protective standards).
  • Said another way, while we don’t know the exact levels of Mercury down to a single digit part per billion range for this particular product (except that the level falls somewhere below 10 ppb), the fact that the Cadmium, Lead, and Arsenic levels are at-or-above 10 ppb is enough information to indicate there is a concern with the toxicant profile.

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).

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!

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 orange, above the action levels discussed/ or in green, below the action levels discussed) for each metal not detected with the laboratory testing Lead Safe Mama, LLC had completed for this product. The numbers are juxtaposed (in blue) to the “Action Level” proposed by the medical and scientific community in 2021 as part of the Baby Food Safety Act. For this round of testing, SimpleLab (our laboratory testing provider) had a change of labs and their low threshold of detection is slightly higher than in previous testing rounds.

  • These 2021 levels were proposed as “Action Levels” because they are (in fact) protective of human health.
  • An “Action Level” is NOT the same as a “Maximum Allowable Level.”
    • Many food manufacturers misinterpret guidance on heavy metals to mean “allowable levels” and consider it reasonable for products to test positive below these levels.
    • This is a (perhaps intentional?) misunderstanding/ misinterpretation the food industry makes — a misunderstanding that food manufacturers use to justify the presence of heavy metals in products.
  • Heavy metals accumulate in the body.
    • It is the cumulative/ aggregate impact of heavy metal exposure (over a lifetime) that makes even small/ incidental/ seemingly trivial exposures particularly damaging and dangerous. You can read more about that here.
  • Once a food product has the amount of heavy metal (Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, or Arsenic) noted (above) as the “Action Level,” that product is officially considered (by the scientific and medical community) unsafe for consumption by children as toxicants (found at-or-above these levels) are in the range of heavy metal levels that have been demonstrated to cause lasting harm.
  • Action Levels are unrelated to serving size.
    • Action Levels are relevant for any amount of a food product that may be consumed (any quantity of the food in question).
    • PPB (parts per billion/ ppb) measurements are a percentage (albeit a very small percentage) and apply to any quantity of the food product tested.
    • For more discussion about serving size considerations (and why relying on “serving size” to limit toxicant exposure is not a relevant metric/ not a metric protective of human health), read this article.
  • These “Action Levels” proposed in 2021 are the levels at which the scientific and medical community believe the manufacturer (or government) needs to take ACTION to fix the problem.
    • One “Action” would be for the manufacturer to take steps to reduce the levels of toxicants in the food product.
    • Another “Action” would be for the manufacturer to cease sales of the product until the product could be made safe.
    • Another “Action” would be for the manufacturer to inform the public that a specific food product has an unsafe level of the metal detected at-or-above the “Action Level” — making a highly-visible public announcement regarding which relevant batches of the product should be recalled/ no longer consumed.
  • The Action Levels proposed with the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021 were not arbitrary toxicant levels, but were proposed because they are the levels most protective of human health. However, the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021 was not passed into law.
  • Regardless of the fact the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021 never passed into law — and it is therefore legal to have foods and supplements marketed for consumption by children test positive for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic at-or-above these levels — these Action Levels still reflect the current (modern/ relevant) advice of the medical and scientific communities as levels both achievable by the industry and safeguards of infant and toddler health.
  • Food industry lobbyists fought against formalizing these proposed “Action Levels” as a government standard, alleging the levels were unachievable.
    • The image below (with the number ELEVEN) links to a landing page with 11 food products we have already tested this year (2024), all of which have been “non-detect” for toxicants with low thresholds of detection (for Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, and Arsenic) far below the 2021 proposed Action Levels.
    • These food products clearly demonstrate these Action Levels as achievable across a range of food types (salt, flour, coffee, oatmeal, chia seeds, hemp seeds, soy milk, packaged fruit-based snacks, beverages, and more).
  • The legitimacy of these levels as “Action Levels”/ “Levels of Concern” (even though they were not adopted as law) is mirrored by the legitimacy of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ level of concern for Lead in water, which is 1 ppb despite the FDA’s official “level of concern” for Lead in water being 15 ppb (you can read more about that here).

 “Simply Not Achievable”

While the packaged, processed food industry would have consumers (and the government) believe the standards proposed in 2021 are unachievable, this industry position (an oft-rearticulated response to nearly every set of laboratory test results for food we have published to date) is simply not true. It is possible to make safer processed, packaged food products that fall well below the safety levels for toxicants proposed within the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021. To read more about every food items Lead Safe Mama, LLC has tested and reported on so far that resulted in “non-detect” for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic (with the limits of detection as reported for each product), click the image below (with the giant number 11)!

Here are direct Amazon links to those 11 safer products as well (this list is growing alongside the food testing we are organizing — to see the updated list at any time, click the graphic with the number above):

  1. Sea Salt (Oregon, USA)
  2. Organic Einkorn Flour (Italy)
  3. Organic, Gluten-Free, Sprouted Rolled Oats (Canada)
  4. Organic, Non-GMO, Gluten-Free Chia Seeds (Mexico)
  5. Organic Espresso Roast Ground Coffee (Multi-country Origin, Non-USA)
  6. Sparkling Grape-Flavored Tonic
  7. Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars in Strawberry Banana Flavor
  8. Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars in Raspberry Lemonade Flavor
  9. GoGo Squeez Organic Fruit On The Go in AppleApple Flavor
  10. Organic Soy Milk
  11. Organic Hemp Seeds

Amazon links are affiliate links. 

Published: October 13, 2024
Sunday

Hello! We are working on publishing a LOT of test results very quickly.

We will be updating this section of each article (with more information about the specific product and other similar products for context) as time permits, but we wanted to ensure the greater Lead Safe Mama community (and the general public) had access to this scientific data (about foods and supplements in their home) as quickly as possible.

Please scroll down to see the full laboratory test report for the product pictured above.

Thank you for your patience.

Please do check out the other links on this page for additional information about the truly independent, third-party laboratory testing we are conducting on food products.

As there are almost no reasonable safety thresholds proposed for toxicants (heavy metals) consumed by adults (in foods and supplements), our focus is (as always) on the health of children. The available proposed safety thresholds (and guidance) for foods consumed by adults are not set at levels protective of human health and are therefore irrelevant to the work we do here at Lead Safe Mama, LLC.

Some additional reading & links that may be of interest:

  1. This is the Lead Safe Mama Amazon affiliate link to purchase the test kits we used for this testing.
  2. Here’s our landing page with links to all the food test results for products we have tested and reported on so far.
  3. Here’s our landing page listing all the food testing we have in-progress (at the lab/ pending, etc.) — please consider making a contribution in support of any of the pending crowd-funded foods if they are a food you use! Thank you.
  4. Here’s information on 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) and how to collaborate with Lead Safe Mama, LLC on the food testing we are hosting.

Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on a Lead Safe Mama, LLC Amazon affiliate link, Lead Safe Mama, LLC may receive a percentage of what you spend — at no extra cost to you.

Lab report for the product pictured above:

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Charlie says

    Not that it matters in this case, but shouldn’t the 2021 Proposed Action Levels be higher for Cereal (Arsenic, 15ppb, Cadmium & Lead 10ppb)?

    Reply

  4. Weiss says

    It’s getting so very depressing… The more cereals that are tested and found to be unsafe, the fewer options are left, and it seems like only a matter of time until there are none. Is there ANY “O” cereal that we CAN safely feed to babies and toddlers? Or any safe substitutes for little ones learning to use their fingers and mouths?

    Reply

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