Arsenic and Lead in Fruit Juices

My wife and I have a four year-old son who is a healthy picky eater. 

To make sure he gets enough nutrition every day, we give him a whole-food nutritional supplement. 

And to make it easier for him to consume, we mix this nutritional supplement in a juice mixture.

However, there has been some recent news regarding fruit juices and the amount of arsenic and lead allowed in them.

So my wife has been doing some research about arsenic and lead in fruit juices and this is what she found:

Per the FDA, a safe amount of arsenic in juices is 10 ppb (parts per billion) and a safe amount of lead is 5 ppb for drinking water. Currently, there are no standards concerning the amount of lead in juices.

The FDA has been asked by advocate group Consumers Union, to adopt the standard of 3 ppb of arsenic and 5 ppb of lead in juices.

So according to what the Consumers Union recommends, here's what I think we should buy:

Tropicana 100 percent Apple Juice, Juicy Juice 100 percent Apple Juice, Nature's Own 100 percent Apple Juice, America's Choice 100 percent Apple Juice, Lucky Leaf 100 percent Apple Juice, or Great Value 100 percent Apple Juice (Walmart brand).

Red Jacket Orchards is the best brand and we would have to buy it online. We would also need to consider the shipping costs. So Tropicana may be our best choice for our little man.

All of the above brands contain well below the amount of arsenic and lead that the Consumers Union recommends. I got these arsenic/lead figures from Consumer's Report (pdf).

Then I put the findings in my own worksheet, averaged out the figures and came up with the following results:

Brand and Total Arsenic ppb

• Red Jacket Orchards - 1.58 


• Tropicana - 1.70 


• Juicy Juice - 2.14 


• Nature's Own - 2.34


• America's Choice - 2.47 


• Lucky Leaf - 2.75 


• Great Value - 3.25 

Brand and Total Inorganic Arsenic ppb

• Red Jacket Orchards - 0.79


• Tropicana - 1.03


• Nature's Own - 1.40


• Juicy Juice - 1.57


• America's Choice - 1.83


• Lucky Leaf  -  2.00


• Great Value - 2.30

Brand and Total Lead ppb

• Red Jacket Orchards - 0.19


• Great Value - 0.21


• Tropicana - 0.84


• Nature's Own - 0.87


• Lucky Leaf - 0.99


• Juicy Juice - 1.50


• America's Choice - 2.49

I encourage you to do your own research and see what results you come up with, and please feel free to share them in the comments section.

Again, according to her research, here are the fruit juices my wife believes we should buy:

• Tropicana 100 percent Apple Juice


• Juicy Juice 100 percent Apple Juice


• Nature's Own 100 percent Apple Juice 


• America's Choice 100 percent Apple Juice 


• Lucky Leaf 100 percent Apple Juice


• Great Value 100 percent Apple Juice (Walmart brand)

Hope you found this information helpful and healthful for you and your family.