Arizona AG Kris Mayes calls for testing of lead and heavy metals in baby food

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• Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes urged the FDA to create guidelines to prevent lead and heavy metal contamination in baby food.
• Mayes highlighted recent recalls of baby food products from Target and Wanabana due to elevated lead levels.
• She joined other attorneys general in requesting stricter oversight and testing of baby food products.
• Mayes emphasized the health risks of lead exposure for children and the importance of finished product testing by manufacturers.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes called on federal health authorities to establish guidelines that would prevent lead and heavy metal poisoning from contaminating baby products.

On June 26, Mayes issued a letter asking the United States Food and Drug Administration and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reconsider a petition issued by 20 attorneys general across the country urging for stricter oversight and testing.

Mayes saw the possible contamination as a credible threat to the health and safety of Arizona babies after numerous nationwide recent recalls, including at major grocers like Target.

“The FDA’s delay in acting on the states’ petition to protect them and avoid these senseless food recalls is inexcusable. It’s past time for the FDA to act,” Mayes wrote in a statement.

Mayes cited a Target recall of Good & Gather Vegetable puree in April and in October 2023 for Wanabana apple sauce, both for elevated levels of lead.

“Had FDA used the authority they have to issue guidance on finished product testing years ago as requested by my state AG colleagues, these recalls and lead poisonings might have been avoided,” wrote Mayes.

Mayes co-signed the letter to the FDA alongside District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb. The other 20 AGs that were part of the original petition were from Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, according to a news release from Mayes’ office.

Mayes warned that lead and heavy metal exposure was a real danger to a growing child’s health and development, because parents rely on baby and toddler foods available at local grocers.

Mayes believed this risk could be reduced if food manufacturers did proper testing on finished products.

Contact reporter Rey Covarrubias Jr. at [email protected]. Follow him on Instagram, X, Threads and Bluesky: @ReyCJrAZ.