One chemical that’s commonly used in fireworks and rocket fuel has also been found in a wide variety of different food products.
On Wednesday, Consumer Reports released findings that showed that the problem seems to be even worse in products that are popular with children and babies.
The advocacy group conducted recent tests on food products, which came many decades after perchlorate, the chemical in question, was first found to be a contaminant in water and food. In 2023, the Environmental Working Group found that the chemical was actually present in almost one-fifth of all lettuce in supermarkets that was tested.
This is an extremely troubling finding, especially as the chemical has been linked to brain damage in newborns and fetuses. In adults, it’s been linked to troubles with the thyroid.
The Consumer Reports’ study found that perchlorate was detected in what they called “measurable levels” in 67% of the 196 samples they took of 10 products from fast food stores and 63 products from grocery stores.
The detected levels ranged anywhere from 2 parts per billion, or ppb, to 79 ppb, according to the group.
The highest levels of the dangerous chemical were actually found in foods that children often consume, with an average level of 19.4 ppb. Fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as many fast food items, contained higher amounts of perchlorate.
Consumer Reports further reported that foods that were stored in plastic containers had the highest levels of the chemical, averaging almost 55 ppb. Those that followed were any product that was in plastic wrap, and then any that was in paperboard.
In 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency set a reference dose for the chemical at only 0.7 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight per day. The European Food Safety Authority, meanwhile, adopted a tolerable intake level that was half of that.
And while the foods that Consumer Reports tested didn’t surpass either of those levels, it’s still a major concern. As the group wrote along with the findings:
“We all eat more than a few servings of food per day, and children — due to their lower body weight — may be particularly at risk. For a child between 1 and 2 years old, a serving of boxed mac and cheese we tested would hit nearly 50% of the EFSA limit, and servings of the baby rice cereal, baby multigrain cereal and organic yogurt we tested would each hit about a quarter of that limit.”
A serving of collard greens, baby carrots and cucumbers each would exceed half of the daily limit set by the EFSA for children between 1 and 2 years old. In other words, Consumer Reports said it would be very easy for younger children to exceed the daily limit of perchlorate.
As James Roberts, the group’s director of product safety, said:
“Feeding your children a wide variety of healthy foods is the best way to make sure they get the nutrients they need and to minimize the potentially harmful effects of contaminants in food and water.”
