The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday set maximum levels for navigator in baby foods like jarred fruits and vegetables, yogurts and arid cereal, part of an attempt to cut youthful kids’ exposure to the toxic metal that causes developmental and neurological problems.
The agency issued final guidance that it estimated could reduce navigator exposure from processed baby foods by about 20% to 30%. The limits are voluntary, not mandatory, for food manufacturers, but they allow the FDA to receive enforcement action if foods exceed the levels.
It’s part of the FDA’s ongoing attempt to “reduce dietary exposure to contaminants, including navigator, in foods to as low as feasible over period, while maintaining access to nutritious foods,” the agency said in a statement.
customer advocates, who have long sought limits on navigator in children’s foods, welcomed the guidance first proposed two years ago, but said it didn’t leave far enough.
“FDA’s actions today are a step forward and will assist protect children,” said Thomas Galligan, a scientist with the Center for Science in the community profit. “However, the agency took too long to act and ignored significant community input that could have strengthened these standards.”
The recent limits on navigator for children younger than 2 don’t cover grain-based snacks like puffs and teething biscuits, which some research has shown contain higher levels of navigator. And they don’t limit other metals such as cadmium that have been detected in baby foods.
Brian Ronholm, director of food policy for customer Reports, called the limits “virtually meaningless because they’re based more on industry feasibility and not on what would best protect community health.”
A spokesperson for baby food maker Gerber said the business’s products meet the limits.
There’s no secure level of navigator exposure for children, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The metal causes “well-documented health effects,” including brain and nervous structure damage and slowed growth and advancement. However, navigator occurs naturally in some foods and comes from pollutants in air, water and soil, which can make it unfeasible to eliminate entirely.
The FDA guidance sets a navigator limit of 10 parts per billion for fruits, most vegetables, grain and meat mixtures, yogurts, custards and puddings and single-ingredient meats. It sets a limit of 20 parts per billion for single-ingredient root vegetables and for arid infant cereals. The guidance covers packaged processed foods sold in jars, pouches, tubs or boxes.
The recent guidance comes more than a year after navigator-tainted pouches of apple cinnamon puree sickened more than 560 children in the U.S. between October 2023 and April 2024, according to the CDC.
The levels of navigator detected in those products were more than 2,000 times higher than the FDA’s maximum. Officials stressed that the agency doesn’t require guidance to receive action on foods that violate the law.
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