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Quick note from Tamara Rubin:

This has been my favorite tea for a zillion years (it seems… almost!). My grandfather used to share Genmaicha with us when we were very young children visiting him in San Francisco (it was one of his favorite teas). So when my husband and I discovered the Tao of Tea — a tea house in Portland, Oregon — shortly after we moved to Portland 22+ years ago, this is one of the first teas I tried. 

Given this organic Genmaicha is sourced from Japan and imported / packaged by a responsible Portland-based company (check out their website here, this is a great Portland date spot too!) – I hoped it was a safer choice but I was not 100% certain. 

We created a fundraiser to test the tea leaves themselves (dry) – and that has not yet funded (link here), but since I drink this tea nearly every day I thought I would do myself the favor of personally covering the cost to test the tea as prepared. I would still like to test it dry (to compare the results to the prepared tea, so we have that for context), but the lab report for this tea below is for the tea brewed as a beverage.

I decided to brew the tea EXTRA STRONG for a few reasons (not the least of which is that I like my tea strong!), primarily thinking that if was brewed extra strong it would be more likely to extract Lead from the leaves if there was any to be extracted:

1. We started with Lead-free water from the filtered water tap at our kitchen sink (it has been tested and came back non-detect for Lead, with a low threshold of detection of one ppb – so the result for our water was “less than 1 ppb”)
2. We put the tea in our Lead-free TeaBloom teapot (link here – https://amzn.to/3P41A2W – this brand converted to being Lead-free after we found Lead paint on their earlier models!)
3. We boiled the water in our Lead-free electric kettle (link here – https://amzn.to/3ZONPtP )
4. I then poured the water in the kettle over the tea leaves and let it soak for a while (5+ minutes). 
5. I then decanted the tea into a Lead-free mug (link here: https://amzn.to/403HH21) two times and poured it back over the leaves.
6. I then (for good measure) let the tea sit steeping overnight (with the water fully covering the tea leaves).
7. We then sent this brewed tea into the lab (basically having done everything we could to potentially increase the amount of Lead in the final beverage if any were present.
8. The result was that the tea came back “non-detect” for Lead, with a low threshold of detection of 5 ppb (which is our current low threshold of detection though SimpleLab).
   • I may test the beverage again in the future if we can find a lab that will test down to 1 ppb, and (again, as noted above) I would still like to send the dry tea leaves in for testing to compare the results of the dry tea leaves to the brewed tea (so please contribute to that campaign if you are in a position to do so!)
9. In the meantime, here the link so you can also enjoy my favorite tea – from this wonderful, responsible, ethical, Portland, Oregon based company!: https://amzn.to/3Dp8Fsd

Please check out our open/ not-yet-funded campaigns on GoFundMe if you would like to support some of our additional independent, crowd-funded, third-party laboratory testing. Thank you!

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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 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 news coverage of our work, linked here.

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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!

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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 and supplement industry lobbyists fought against formalizing these proposed “Action Levels” as a government standard, alleging the levels were unachievable.
• The list of safer choices (below) 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).

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 “Simply Not Achievable”

To reiterate: 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 and supplements that we have published to date) is simply not true.

It is possible to make safer processed, packaged food products and supplements that fall well below the safety limits for toxicants proposed within the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021. To wit, the products listed below (the first section of the list below) tested “non-detect” for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic — several even tested non-detect for Lead with the low threshold of detection being “less than 1.5 ppb.”

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Below is an EXPANDING list of products (foods and supplements) that have tested “non-detect” for Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, and Arsenic with independent, third-party, crowd-funded laboratory testing coordinated by Lead Safe Mama, LLC (an Oregon-based small business with a unique community-collaborative business model and a focus on consumer goods safety and childhood Lead poisoning prevention).
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The limits of detection for each of the metals tested are noted in the lab report for the specific product listed. To see the full lab report for any of these products, type the brand name into the search bar at the top of any page on Lead Safe Mama dot com (and scroll down to the bottom of the related article).
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Flavors tested are noted, and other flavors of the same product (or other products from the same brand) have either not been tested or have been tested but did not yield similar results. Test results only apply to the specific products linked below.

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LIST UPDATED December 20, 2024 – 42 Products!:

1. Baby Food — 1 — Little Spoon Kale, Carrot + Pear BabyBlends
2. Baby Food — 2 —Little Spoon Butternut Squash + Blueberry BabyBlends
3. Baby Food — 3 — Little Spoon Sweet Potato BabyBlends
4. Baby Food — 4 — Little Spoon Sweet Potato + Carrot BabyBlends
5. Baby Food — 5 — Little Spoon Banana + Pitaya BabyBlends
6. Beverage — 1 — Honest Kids Organic Appley Ever After Apple Juice Drink – https://amzn.to/4fjGhov
7. Beverage — 2 —  Olipop Grape Tonic: https://amzn.to/4cjFYZu
8. Breakfast Item — 1 — Nature’s Path Envirokidz Organic Panda Puffs: https://amzn.to/4fo1crf
9. Breakfast Item — 2 — One Degree Organic, Gluten-Free, Sprouted Rolled Oats (Canada): https://amzn.to/3WIQ1BN
10. Candy — Lindt White Chocolate Bar (Made in USA – New Hampshire): https://amzn.to/3OXkyIm
11. Candy — Cavendish & Harvey Wild Berry Drops, not Organic (Germany): https://amzn.to/3Z1Jxjr
12. Coffee & Tea — 1 — Chameleon Handcrafted Organic Cold Brew Concentrate: https://amzn.to/3OcrH77
13. Coffee & Tea — 2 — Tao of Tea Organic Genmaicha (Tamara’s favorite, from Japan sold by a Portland, Oregon based company!): https://amzn.to/3Dp8Fsd
14. Coffee & Tea — 3 — Death Wish Organic Espresso Roast Ground Coffee (Multi-country Origin, non-USA): https://amzn.to/3yo1eiL  
15. Coffee Creamer — Plant-Based  — 1 — Laird Superfood Coconut Creamer: https://amzn.to/4fItA7A
16. Coffee Creamer — Dairy — 2 — Organic Valley Grassmilk Half and Half: https://amzn.to/4fHJIWT
17. Dairy, Cheese – Babybel Mini Original Snack Cheese: https://amzn.to/3ZY5noO
18. Fruit Snack — 1 — GoGo Squeez Organic Apple Sauce Pouch: https://amzn.to/3XhWYLe
19. Fruit Snack — 2 — Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars in Strawberry Banana Flavor: https://amzn.to/3WQEekA
20. Fruit Snack — 3 — Once Upon A Farm Dairy Free Fruit Smoothie Pouch in Strawberry Banana Swirl Flavor: https://amzn.to/3CPMbAw
21. Fruit Snack — 4 — Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars in Raspberry Lemonade Flavor: https://amzn.to/3XcFsIp
22. Infant Formula — 1 — Bobbie Organic Gentle Infant Formula Milk-Based Powder with Iron (Pink & White Can): https://amzn.to/3YYb849 
23. Infant Formula — 2 — Bobbie Organic Infant Formula – Milk-Based Powder With Iron (Green & White Can): https://amzn.to/3VOr4Vy
24. Infant Formula — 3 — Bobbie Grass-Fed Milk-Based Powder with Iron (Green Can): https://amzn.to/3ZlAaeJ
25. Infant Formula — 4 — ByHeart Infant Formula (USA-Made, not organic): https://amzn.to/48DJjTb
    
26. Infant Formula — 5 — HiPP Bio Combiotik Infant Formula Powder – Stage 1 (imported)
27. Infant Formula — 6 — Holle Bio Goat Stage 2 Infant Formula (for 6-10 months, organic, European — Swiss/ German/ Austrian) is not available on Amazon, but the Stage 3 version of this product is (not yet tested, but will likely test similarly): https://amzn.to/3BVU7zI
28. Infant Formula — 7 — Kendamil Goat Infant Formula (not organic): This product may be available at Target (it is not available on Amazon)
29. Infant Formula — 8 — Kendamil Organic Follow-On Milk (European/ British Toddler Formula, for 6-12 months, Cow Milk): Not available on Amazon (report link)
30. Infant Formula — 9 — Kendamil Organic Infant Formula (Cow Milk): Not available on Amazon but may be available at Target
31. Ingredient — 1 (salt) — Jacobsen’s Sea Salt (Oregon, USA): https://amzn.to/4dcbk5L
32. Ingredient — 2 (baking flour) — Jovial Organic Einkorn Flour (Italy): https://amzn.to/3LIqxix 
33. Ingredient — 3 (seeds) — Costco Kirkland Organic Hemp Seeds: https://amzn.to/4e05RP9
34. Ingredient — 4 (seeds) — Navitas Organic, Gluten-Free Chia Seeds (Mexico): https://amzn.to/3YvE7xC
35. Ingredient — 5 (beans) — Jovial Organic Chickpeas – Product of Italy: https://amzn.to/4iRON1l
36. Oil — 1 — Chosen Foods 100% Avocado Oil (not organic): https://amzn.to/3YDZSuv
37. Oil — 2 — Dr. Adorable’s Organic Perilla Seed Oil (Korea): https://amzn.to/3NDt7Yc
38. Plant-Based Milk — 1 — Kiki Milk Organic Plant Based Milk (original flavor): https://amzn.to/3AA6Qrt
39. Plant-Based Milk — 2 — West Soy Unflavored Unsweetened Organic Soy Milk: https://amzn.to/4dwev8l
40. Supplement — 1 — Baby Ddrops – Organic Vitamin D3 Supplement for Babies: https://amzn.to/49C3ktH
41. Supplement — 2 — Nordic Naturals Omega-3 Fish Oil: https://amzn.to/48q1j2V
42. Supplement — 3 — Mary Ruth’s Organic Toddler Multivitamin Liquid Drops with Iron: https://amzn.to/3YPhcgx

Here’s a link to the lab reports for of all of the foods and supplements we have tested.

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Stand by for more!
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BONUS FOUR: Below are FOUR additional products that each tested positive for trace (very low levels of) Arsenic — at levels considered safe by all standards (with the limits of detection noted in the lab report for the specific product listed):

1. Infant Formula — Kendamil Goat Toddler Milk, not Organic (positive for traces of Arsenic): May be available at Target or through other online retailers of European infant formulas
2. Fruit Snack — That’s It Apple Cherry Bars, not Organic (positive for traces of Arsenic): https://amzn.to/4fHkSWV
3. Oil — Chosen Foods 100% Pure Avocado Oil — Organic (postive for traces of Arsenic): https://amzn.to/3BVQYQa
4. Supplement — Now Sunflower Lecithin, not Organic (positive for traces of Arsenic): https://amzn.to/3AFdHzO

Amazon links are affiliate links. 

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Published: December 20, 2024
Friday

Hello! We are continually working on publishing a LOT of test results very quickly this month. We sent 67 products to the lab for testing in September 2024, 61 products in October 2024, and 31 products in November of 2024. We have not yet reported on all of those products as we are still waiting to receive final reports from the lab for many of them.

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.

More Key Points To Consider:

• There are almost no reasonable safety limits proposed for toxicant contamination (heavy metal contamination specifically) of foods and supplements consumed by adults (or by the general population) in the United States.
• Any available proposed safety thresholds (and guidance) for foods and supplements consumed by adults are not currently set at levels that are protective of human health – given practical / actual consumption patterns of foods (vs. manufacturer defined serving sizes)
  • The above point is especially important given children eat all foods, not just foods marketed for consumption by children (for example: find me a pre-teen that won’t go through an entire 5 ounce / 5-serving bag of potato chips in one sitting!)
• Our focus is (as always) on the health of children.
• By applying the standards proposed by the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021 to all foods and supplements – we are working more in line with standards that are protective of human health (for all!) given all scientific and medical experts agree that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for human beings.
• Said another way: You would never be eating a snack chip out of a bag and say to your 5 year old child “this product is only marketed for consumption by adults, so you cannot eat it.” That would be ridiculous. Kids eat what we eat, so everything that goes into our bodies in an attempt to nourish us and support our health and well being should be appropriate for any age consumer (not just a demographic designated by the manufacturer based on irrelevant age-group related toxicity standards for a specific product or ingredient).
• Remember: There is no save level of Lead exposure for human beings. Period. This is a non-negotiable point that everyone in the scientific and medical community – everyone who researches Lead poisoning – agrees with.

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This is the Lead Safe Mama Amazon affiliate link to purchase a test kit similar to what we use for our laboratory testing.

To see more articles related to the laboratory testing of foods and supplements Lead Safe Mama, LLC is conducting (including background on this initiative and safer food choices and guidelines), click the pink square below. To see the full, independent, third-party laboratory report for the product pictured above, please scroll down to the bottom of this page.

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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.

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Lab report for the product pictured above: