Consumer Reports is calling for Lunchables to be removed from the National School Lunch Program, warning the versions of the lunch kits served to kids in schools contain high levels of sodium. The nonprofit group also conducted testing on Lunchables sold in stores and found they contain lead and other heavy metals.
Consumer Reports’ recent research looked at 12 store-bought versions of Lunchables and similar snacks from other brands. It found lead or cadmium, or both toxic heavy metals, in all of them.
Consumer Reports also flagged all lunch kits for their salt content, which ranged from almost a quarter to half of the daily recommended limit for children. (Consumer Reports did not test the lunch kits available in schools for lead or other heavy metals.)
The snacks are popular and convenient, but “there’s a lot to be concerned about” because they’re highly processed, Amy Keating, a registered dietitian told Consumer Reports.
“They definitely shouldn’t be considered a healthy school lunch,” added Eric Boring, Ph.D., a Consumer Reports chemist who led the testing.
Do Lunchables have lead?
Testing from independent nonprofit Consumer Reports found that three different types of Lunchables contained lead — turkey and cheddar with crackers, pepperoni pizza and cheese pizza — as did several other brands’ lunch kits.
None of the kits exceeded any legal or regulatory limit, but five of the 12 tested products would expose a person to 50% or more of California’s maximum allowable level for lead or cadmium, currently the strictest standard because there are no federal limits for heavy metals in most foods, Consumer Reports noted.
“Lead and cadmium can cause developmental problems in children over time, even in small amounts,” the nonprofit said in a statement. (While experts previously told TODAY.com that a single instance of exposure to lead is unlikely to cause harm and that it’s repeated exposure that’s most concerning, both the U.S. Food and Drug…
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