Consumer Reports is calling for the removal of Lunchables from school trays across the country after discovering concerning levels of lead and sodium and a potentially harmful chemical in their packaging in products sold in stores.
A petition lobbying the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get rid of the Kraft Heinz products from the National School Lunch Program has more than 14,000 signatures. --------
Kraft Heinz spokeswoman Lynsey Elve said Lunchables have been “parent-approved” for 35 years, with more than half of U.S. parents “proudly buying the brand.”
“All our foods meet strict safety standards that we happily feed to our own families,” Elve said. “Lead and cadmium occur naturally in the environment and may be present in low levels in food products. We are proud of Lunchables and stand by the quality and integrity that goes into making them.”
Eek. I buy my kid an off brand "Armour" one every week. I have an hour to kill with him on Saturdays while waiting for my older one and it's his bribe. I figure protein is better than some other snack and he literally begs for it.
Anywhooo....I hope those don't have lead too. WTF!
“foodsciencebabe” has a really good breakdown about this in her instagram feed this week. She discusses how lead is naturally found in much of the produce we consume, and how the CA prop warnings are a bit deceptive. Warnings don’t need to be on, say, broccoli, but some produce has higher levels of naturally occurring lead than Lunchables. CA prop warnings only go on packaged items, and their standards for food are for trace amounts of mostly naturally occurring lead.
We have been weeding out a lot of lead items from our home, which includes vintage Pyrex items and some bakeware. While we aren’t a Lunchable consuming family, I would not stop feeding them to a child with sensory issues if this were a main protein source for them. Lead is in the news a lot right now, so it takes some digging to find solid articles about levels. “leadsafemama” is another resource on Instagram, but you need to use caution as her experiences with pediatric lead poisoning have played into an almost fear mongering approach to education. She does, however, offer a significant number of easy swaps for common household items that have high lead. This includes brands like Le Creuset which she has tested with laboratory grade equipment, and has been found to have very high levels of heavy metals.
Quoting foodsciencebabe is not a good look. She's supported anti-science positions in the past. Please don't follow her or trust her.
I looked at her credentials and she has a degree in chemical engineering. Although not nutritional science, she still seems pretty knowledgeable on science.
Quoting foodsciencebabe is not a good look. She's supported anti-science positions in the past. Please don't follow her or trust her.
I looked at her credentials and she has a degree in chemical engineering. Although not nutritional science, she still seems pretty knowledgeable on science.
I think it’s Food Babe thats anti-science.
Oh, shit, I'm sorry. I did get confused. And, yes, lead naturally occurs. She's not wrong to point that out despite no nutritional science background. I had a gut reaction to seeing that name. Although, if it's who I was thinking of, it would be sending out alarm bells about OMG LEAD instead of responding to hysteria calmly. That's 100% on me.
But, still, why put babe? Just foodscience should suffice. Is this where I acknowledge I don't instagram or tiktok? I'm a curmudgeonly luddite apparently. Hit me up on the facebook where we olds hang out.