A chemical used in rocket fuel and fireworks is also showing up in a range of food products, including those favored by babies and children, according to findings released Wednesday by Consumer Reports.
The consumer rights group’s testing came decades after the chemical perchlorate was first identified as a contaminant in food and water. In 2003, the Environmental Working Group found perchlorate in nearly 20 percent of lettuce tested at supermarkets.
Related to potential brain damage According to the latest testing by Consumer Reports, perchlorate was detected in measurable concentrations in 67 percent of 196 samples of 63 grocery products and 10 fast food products in fetuses and newborns, as well as in thyroid disorders in adults. The levels detected ranged from just over two parts per billion (ppb) to 79 ppb.
Foods commonly consumed by children had the highest levels of perchlorate, averaging 19.4 ppb, while fresh fruits and vegetables and fast food also contained high amounts.
When looking at packaging types, foods in plastic containers had the highest levels, averaging nearly 55 ppb, followed by foods in plastic wrap and cardboard, Consumer Reports said.
Special concerns for children
In 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a reference dose of perchlorate at 0.7 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day, while the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) set a tolerable daily intake of half that amount. None of the foods tested by Consumer Reports contained levels that exceeded either agency’s recommended daily limits.
That said, concerns remain, according to Consumer Reports.
“[W]“We all eat more than a few portions of food a day, and children, because of their lower body weight, may be at particular risk,” CR said in its findings. “For a child between one and two years old, a serving of boxed macaroni and cheese that we tested would reach almost 50% of the EFSA limit, and the servings of baby rice cereal, baby multigrain cereal and organic yoghurt that we tested would each reach about a quarter of that limit.”
A serving (typically about three-quarters of a cup) of cucumbers, baby carrots and collard greens would each exceed 50% of EFSA’s daily limit of perchlorate for children aged 1 to 2, making it quite easy for young children to consume relatively high levels each day, CR said.
“Feeding your children a wide variety of healthy foods is the best way to ensure they get the nutrients they need and minimize the potentially harmful effects of contaminants in food and water,” said James Rogers, CR’s director of product safety.
The nonprofit organization stressed that its tests did not reveal why some foods had higher levels of perchlorate than others, but that anti-static plastic could be one reason in some packaged products. Additionally, CR researchers said that fresh produce could contain perchlorate if it was irrigated with contaminated water.
According to the National Institutes of Health’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, most drinking water contamination comes from the manufacturing, disposal and research of propellants, explosives and pyrotechnics, as well as accidental releases from factories and rocket launch failures.
