2 ms·

Parents can soon use QR codes to reveal heavy metal content in baby food

14 points by pseudolus 2y ago

BugsJustFindMe 2y ago
Holy shit, that congressional report is extremely damning. Everyone should read it. It's fucking wild that congress doesn't subsequently care enough to legislate. > In January 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released its first-ever guidance for manufacturers that sets limits on the amount of lead that baby food can contain. But the FDA guidance does not require companies to adhere to the limits. > five years after a congressional report warned about the presence of dangerously high levels of lead and other heavy metals in baby food So we know it's a huge widespread problem, and we know it's dangerous, but instead of saying "dangerous baby food not allowed", we're going to let the market segment itself? Coming soon, expensive premium baby foods marketing themselves as not containing dangerous levels of heavy metals for children of upper middle class parents, and less expensive budget baby foods that show themselves to contain higher levels for the poors who can go fuck themselves I guess.
- alsoforgotmypwd 2y ago
  > Coming soon, expensive premium baby foods marketing themselves as not containing dangerous levels of heavy metals for children of upper middle class parents, and less expensive budget baby foods that show themselves to contain higher levels for the poors who can go fuck themselves I guess. Yep. It's already that way indirectly. Plus, I imagine there's probably random amounts of contaminants in eco/organic/greenwashed baby food at Whole Foods because megacorps are heavily-involved in that game and no one's measuring it.
- cluckindan 2y ago
  Well, RFK Jr.’s gotta feed those vultures somehow!
alsoforgotmypwd 2y ago
It's a good thing because optimizing requires measurement. This will likely require sourcing different or processing differently America-sourced rice because of the higher arsenic content. I would hope the same would be applied to all foods to list heavy metals, and to pesticide and herbicide residues too.
simulator5g 2y ago
They should be required to print it on the label, most parents are not going to scan a QR code. Seems like a deliberate effort to conceal the information.

14 points by pseudolus 2y ago

Holy shit, that congressional report is extremely damning. Everyone should read it. It's fucking wild that congress doesn't subsequently care enough to legislate. > In January 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released its first-ever guidance for manufacturers that sets limits on the amount of lead that baby food can contain. But the FDA guidance does not require companies to adhere to the limits. > five years after a congressional report warned about the presence of dangerously high levels of lead and other heavy metals in baby food So we know it's a huge widespread problem, and we know it's dangerous, but instead of saying "dangerous baby food not allowed", we're going to let the market segment itself? Coming soon, expensive premium baby foods marketing themselves as not containing dangerous levels of heavy metals for children of upper middle class parents, and less expensive budget baby foods that show themselves to contain higher levels for the poors who can go fuck themselves I guess.

alsoforgotmypwd 2y ago
> Coming soon, expensive premium baby foods marketing themselves as not containing dangerous levels of heavy metals for children of upper middle class parents, and less expensive budget baby foods that show themselves to contain higher levels for the poors who can go fuck themselves I guess. Yep. It's already that way indirectly. Plus, I imagine there's probably random amounts of contaminants in eco/organic/greenwashed baby food at Whole Foods because megacorps are heavily-involved in that game and no one's measuring it.
cluckindan 2y ago
Well, RFK Jr.’s gotta feed those vultures somehow!

alsoforgotmypwd 2y ago

It's a good thing because optimizing requires measurement. This will likely require sourcing different or processing differently America-sourced rice because of the higher arsenic content. I would hope the same would be applied to all foods to list heavy metals, and to pesticide and herbicide residues too.

simulator5g 2y ago

They should be required to print it on the label, most parents are not going to scan a QR code. Seems like a deliberate effort to conceal the information.