I like my food unleaded.
I was quite surprised to discover that not everything in my pantry was lead free. Thanks to a tip from a friend, I discovered some hidden lead in my Balsamic Vinegar purchased at Costco.
The Kirkland Signature brand Balsamic Vinegar of Modena has a nifty little warning label at the bottom which states:
WARNING: This product contains lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm.
As a serious label reader I was surprised that I had missed this. What an alarming find!
Lead Dangers
Lead is a common, naturally occurring metal and most of us are exposed to low levels of it all of the time. However, lead is toxic to humans and children are especially susceptible. Regulations have reduced the amount of lead that we are exposed to, we no longer have lead paint, the glaze on our dishes once contained lead and for the most part they do not. Yet we still are exposed to lead in our water supply, in our environment from soil and dust…and in our foods, mostly through contamination with utensils, cans and vessles containing lead and water during production and packaging. 1
“Ongoing exposure to even small amounts of lead may eventually result in harmful levels in the body. Once lead is absorbed into your blood, it is either eliminated from your body (mostly in urine) or builds up in your bones. It can remain stored in your body for over 30 years.
Health effects associated with exposure to high levels of lead include vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, coma or even death.” 2
Of course, high levels of exposure resulting in major complications are fairly rare, yet even low levels of lead exposure can cause health problems including blood pressure increase, neurological impacts including decline in intellect and cognitive ability, heart problems, strokes and risk of miscarriage and other reproductive harm. 3
Lurking Lead
If lead is lurking in a regular bottle of vinegar that anyone can pick up at a reputable, nation-wide chain, it certainly makes you wonder what other products may contain lead. The answer surprised me… it is not just in cheap products from China.
According the the Environmental Law Foundation, who filed suit in September of 2011 based on findings of lead in this study, says that it is in hundreds of products that you might buy regularly contain lead and many do not currently require labeling.
List of products found in study that contained lead includes:
Fruit Cocktail
Grape Juice
Apple Juice
Baby food
Canned Pears
Canned Peaches
Even Organic Juices and fruits
From Brands that many people may trust, including:
Gerber
Dole
Kroger
Full Circle Organic
Libby’s
O Organics
Minute Maid
Motts
and many, many more.
For the full list of products indicated go here
More foods that commonly contain lead
Tap Water – Get a water filtration system, even the most cost effective water filters can remove the majority of lead from the water
Leafy green vegetables – Through soil contamination, be sure to soak your leaf greens thoroughly before eating
Imported Candy – Primarily from Mexico 4
Shellfish
Preserved Eggs
Imported Dried Fruit – Especially Plums
Imported Herbs and Supplements – Especially from China and India 5
Imported Spices – Especially India or China 6 7
Lipstick – Although not above legal limits, according to this article 400 shades of lipstick contain high levels of lead 8
Summary
The moral of the story is that we need to read the labels very thoroughly. In some cases, reading labels is not enough, as many food products still do not have adequate labeling. Prop 65, The Right to Know Law requires labeling of toxic chemicals and a current suit is requesting that more products be required to label their lead content. This goes to show us just how important these labeling laws are to our health. We need to be sure that we add our voices with our votes on labeling laws in our own states. My state is considering a label requirement on GMO foods. You can bet that I will be adding my vote in on this issue.
Related links:
Food Safety News Search for recent lead issues
Notes:
- http://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/lead/sources.htm ↩
- http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/lead-plomb-eng.php ↩
- http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/contaminants/dhhssrl-rpecscepsh/index-eng.php ↩
- http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/california-recall-for-candies-with-too-much-lead/#.USPxIaVOMqk ↩
- http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/lead/lead-fact-sheet.pdf ↩
- http://abcnews.go.com/Health/indian-spice-religious-powders-lead-poisoning-children-study/story?id=10099654 ↩
- http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/11/imported-dried-fruits-recalled-for-high-lead-levels/#.USPxAaVOMqk ↩
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-checkup/post/lead-in-lipsticks-which-brands-are-the-worst-offenders/2012/02/14/gIQAfNkiDR_blog.html ↩
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7 Comments
I love my Costco Balsamic Vinegar! I really want to know how much lead it contains. I live in Washington and despite California being huge, Costco has still taken the time/effort to produce different labels for non-Californians. I doubt that the contents of the bottle is sourced differently but I have also heard that California’s bar for toxins is 1000x higher than one might expect.
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The amount of lead found in balsamic vinegar is so low that you would have to consume approximately 2 to 3 cups a day in order to cause harm. The lead is naturally occurring as the grapes absorb the trace amounts of lead from the soil. California’s Prop 65 law requires anything to be labeled that has a toxic chemical up to 1000 times lower than the harmful level. All in all unless you are drinking balsamic like it is going out of style you are going to be fine. Hope this helped and happy cooking.
There is no longer a warning on the back pf the Kirkland Balsamic vinegar bottle. Apparently the lead levels have decreases or the testing for it has improved.
Lead exposure (even in miniscule amounts) in childhood poses real developmental risks that should be minimized wherever practical. Even a single typical daily serving of some brands of balsamic vinegar (which is acidic enough to promote a high rate of absorption of trace amounts of lead into the bloodstream) may be sufficient to significantly increase the lead present in a child’s blood over time, which poses real developmental risks to children at thresholds far lower than those established for lead in state and federal regulations. The fact that children are exposed to comparable amounts of lead due to other environmental and dietary factors is a reason to be more cautious, not less, about sources of avoidable childhood exposure to lead. Lead exposure, whatever the amount, is never “safe” for children.
I bought a bottle of Kirkland Balsamic vinegar yesterday and it had a lead warning label on the back below the nutrition facts label. I have not been able to find out the lead of this particular product. If anyone finds out please let the rest of us know.
Thanks to this site for addressing this issue.
I just checked my bottle. It does not have any warning on it about lead. Just a warning about sulfites.