Lead and cadmium levels in commercial infant foods and dietary intake by infants 0–1 year old

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Abstract
Lead and cadmium levels were determined in 131 infant foods. Mean lead and cadmium levels were 19.3 and 3.3 ng/g for meats, 8.4 and 4.1 ng/g for vegetables, 14.9 and 0.58 ng/g for fruits and desserts, 9.6 and 0.53 ng/g for juices and drinks, and 32.8 and 33.6 ng/g for dry infant cereals. These data, combined with those from other recent surveys, yielded average dietary (food and water) intakes of lead and cadmium by infants 0–1 year old of 2.4 and 0.37 μg/kg/day, respectively. Lead intakes were most strongly influenced by storage of infant formulas in lead‐soldered cans. For infants 0–1 month old, they ranged from 0.5 μg/kg/day when human or cow milk was fed to infants to 5.3 μg/kg/day (exceeding the FAO/WHO provisional tolerable daily intake, PTWI, of lead by children of 3.5 μg/kg) when ready‐to‐use formula stored in lead‐soldered cans was fed. Cadmium intakes were most strongly affected by soya based formulas, and ranged, for 0–1 month olds, from 0.16 μg/kg/day for infants fed human or cow milk to 0.50 μg/kg/day for infants fed soya‐based concentrated liquid formula. Cadmium intakes were all below the FAO/WHO PTDI of cadmium by adults of 0.96–132 μg/kg.