Apple

Completeness scorecard

Deterministic gap audit — no score is composite, no cell is LLM-judged. Each chip is re-derivable by re-running tools/evidence/build-ingredient-scorecard.mjs. review: residuals and missing data are worked autonomously via data/evidence/ingredient-scorecard-review-flags.csv and wiki/completeness-gaps.md.

FSA/Fera measured this ingredient or non-infant-specific food composite in Table 6 of the FS102048 survey. Exact concentration values remain in progress until Table 6 is parsed into structured ingredient rows with less-than and semi-quantitative flags preserved. fsa2016-infant-food-formula-metals-survey

Why this commodity accumulates heavy metals

Apples accumulate heavy metals through two primary routes. The first is soil uptake via the root system, which delivers Pb, Cd, and other metals from orchard soils into the vascular tissue and fruit flesh. Historical apple orchard management in North America and Europe relied heavily on lead arsenate as a pesticide from the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century, leaving a legacy of elevated Pb and arsenic in orchard soils that persists in some regions decades after application ceased; this residual contamination continues to contribute trace levels of Pb and arsenic to fruit grown in those orchards. The second route is atmospheric deposition on fruit surfaces during the growing season, which can deposit Pb and other metals directly onto the skin; washing and peeling can remove a portion of this surface-deposited load.

Despite these exposure routes, apples are generally a low-risk commodity for heavy metals under current commercial production conditions. The FDA FY2018-FY2020 Total Diet Study data for raw apple with peel (TDS Food 78, n=27) show the majority of analytes at or below detection limits across most of the sample distribution (FDA 2022). Total arsenic showed a p90 of 5.36 ppb and a maximum of 20 ppb, with the speciated iAs fraction awaiting a dedicated speciation source. The regulatory and media attention that apples have received in recent years has been driven primarily by cinnamon adulteration in fruit pouches rather than by contamination in the apple ingredient itself: the 2023 WanaBana lead poisoning cluster was attributable to cinnamon adulterated with lead chromate, not to the apple component (Napier et al. 2024).

Heavy metal contamination profile

Per-analyte snapshot derived from the machine-readable contamination_profile in the frontmatter above. data gap indicates the literature has been reviewed for this commodity-analyte combination and no usable occurrence data was found (a finding, not a placeholder). The Key sources column shows the top 2-3 contributing sources by year and sample size, with numbered wikilink aliases.

Synthesis basis and censoring treatment

The lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium, and uranium cells were resynthesized on 2026-06-11 on a raw apple-with-peel wet-weight basis, the form in which the fruit enters the ingredient supply chain and the basis FDA Total Diet Study Food 78 reports.

Values below the analytical limit of detection or quantification are treated as left-censored, not as measured zeros. The earlier profile reported lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium, and uranium at typical and 95th-percentile values of zero. Those figures were an artifact of the FDA Total Diet Study composites for raw apple, in which every sample (or all but one) fell below the reporting limit and the reported zeros were pooled as literal zeros. For lead, FDA reported all 27 composites below the 4 µg/kg reporting limit; for cadmium and uranium, all 27 below the 1 µg/kg reporting limit; for nickel, all 27 below the 40 µg/kg reporting limit; for chromium, 26 of 27 below the 50 µg/kg reporting limit with a single detect at 55 µg/kg (FDA 2022). The resynthesis replaces the literal zeros with a left-censored floor at the FDA reporting limit and recovers the upper distribution from primary fresh-fruit occurrence literature, in which all of these metals are low but non-zero in apple flesh.

The lead floor is set at the FDA 4 µg/kg reporting limit; the central and upper distribution rests on Polish retail fresh apple (Rusin et al. 2021, fresh apple mean 9 µg/kg, maximum 24 µg/kg wet weight) and South Korean retail apple (Lee et al. 2023, apple was the highest-lead fruit of the fourteen surveyed at a mean of 46.4 µg/kg fresh weight). The 95th-percentile anchor is set from the Lublin orchard survey (Sembratowicz et al. 2010), in which apple lead averaged 80 to 90 µg/kg fresh weight with 30 to 50 percent of individual lots above the EU 100 µg/kg maximum level and a documented range to 200 to 210 µg/kg in the highest lots. The cadmium floor is the FDA 1 µg/kg reporting limit; the upper distribution rests on the same Polish fresh-apple data (Rusin fresh apple mean 1 µg/kg, maximum 7.1 µg/kg; Sembratowicz apple fresh-weight mean about 9 to 10 µg/kg with a range to 30 µg/kg) and the Pakistani retail survey (Rahim et al. 2020, apple 6.5 µg/kg dry weight, the lowest-lead and a low-cadmium fruit in that study).

Nickel and chromium are recovered at low confidence from a small set of fresh-fruit anchors against a censored FDA floor. Nickel rests on the Egyptian retail survey (Amer et al. 2019), in which apple nickel ranged 110 to 360 µg/kg fresh weight across four governorates and the estimated daily intake exceeded the tolerable daily intake in two of them; the Pakistani survey reports apple nickel at 10.6 µg/kg dry weight and a single Nigerian market apple at 50 µg/kg (Unaegbu et al. 2016). The wide spread between the Egyptian fresh-weight values and the other anchors, set against the fully censored FDA cell, caps confidence at low. Chromium is reported as total chromium only; no apple hexavalent-chromium measurement exists in the corpus, and Cr-VI is never inferred from total chromium. The chromium distribution rests on the South Korean survey, in which apple was the highest-chromium fruit at a mean of 56.7 µg/kg fresh weight and a maximum of 126.2 µg/kg, with the Pakistani apple at 41.7 µg/kg dry weight and the single FDA detect at 55 µg/kg corroborating the central estimate.

Dried apple carries substantially higher per-gram metal loads than fresh apple because drying concentrates the fruit by weight loss; Rusin reports dried apple lead to 202 µg/kg and cadmium to 39 µg/kg on a dry-weight basis, and Mania reports imported dried apple total mercury to 16 µg/kg (Mania et al. 2021). These dried-form values are recorded as a separate concentration stratum and are not folded into the fresh-apple percentiles above. Uranium is recorded as a reviewed data gap: the only apple uranium measurement in the corpus is the fully censored FDA Total Diet Study cell (all 27 composites below the 1 µg/kg reporting limit), and no primary fresh-fruit source reports an extractable quantitative apple uranium value, so no distribution is published.

Routing

This node is linked from fruit-juices-apple-containing, fruit-purees.

Contamination Profile State

The machine-readable contamination profile is in_progress. Ingredient-level values belong here once parsed; finished-product values belong on the relevant product-category page.

FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 Evidence

FDA’s FY2018-FY2020 Total Diet Study dataset includes this page’s routed matrix as TDS Food 78, “Apple, red, with peel, raw.” The normalized row-level data is stored in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_element_results_samples.csv, with per-food/per-analyte summaries in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_summary_by_food_analyte.csv. Concentrations are retained as FDA reported them, with reporting limits preserved separately; reported zeroes are not rewritten as <LOD without a source-specific rule. fda2022-tds-elements-fy2018-fy2020

FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 Occurrence Values

FDA Total Diet Study FY2018-FY2020 reports prepared/composite-food concentration distributions for this ingredient as TDS food “Apple, red, with peel, raw” (fda2022-tds-elements-fy2018-fy2020). Values are in ppb-equivalent on the basis FDA reported. The full sample-level data are stored in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_element_results_samples.csv; per-analyte distributions in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_summary_by_food_analyte.csv. These distributions count as one source under persistent-wiki-ingest-rule synthesis discipline; numerical values stay in body scratch until a second independent source is integrated.

Ranges by source, region, and variety

The FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 data (TDS Food 78, n=27) provide a US market distribution for raw apple with peel, representing composite samples purchased at retail across multiple US cities (FDA 2022). These distributions show most analytes below detection in the majority of samples, with tAs reaching a p90 of 5.36 ppb and a maximum of 20 ppb. Polish market data from Rusin et al. 2021, which measured Cd and Pb across fresh, frozen, dried, and processed fruit and vegetable products (n=370 total), include apple data across processing states and provide a European comparison point; specific quantitative values for apple from that source remain in progress pending table extraction. Variety-level variation within apple cultivars is not resolved in the current corpus; synthesis of regional and varietal ranges will be updated when additional occurrence data are integrated.

Processing effects

Processing state substantially affects the metal load delivered per serving. Washing fresh apples reduces surface-deposited Pb, though the magnitude of reduction depends on water pressure and duration; peeling removes the skin layer where atmospheric Pb deposition concentrates. Juicing transfers metals from the flesh into the juice fraction and leaves some in the pomace; the juice fraction retains the bulk of soluble metals. Concentration (for apple juice concentrate or apple cider concentrate) proportionally elevates metal concentrations relative to single-strength juice. Heat processing to produce applesauce does not remove metals; metals remain in the fruit matrix and the thermal process is not a remediation step. Drying, which concentrates all components by weight loss, elevates metal concentrations in dried apple relative to fresh apple on a per-gram basis. Rusin et al. 2021 examined fresh, frozen, dried, and processed forms and provides empirical data on processing-state differences, pending quantitative extraction.

Ingredient-derivative risk

Apple as an ingredient produces several derivatives with distinct metal profiles. Juice and juice concentrate are the highest-concentration liquid derivatives because juicing extracts metals from multiple portions of fruit and concentration further elevates them. Apple purée and applesauce retain the full fruit matrix in cooked form with no concentration or dilution step and carry essentially the same metal load as cooked whole apple. Dried apple (rings, chips) is concentrated by weight loss and therefore carries a higher metal content per gram than fresh apple. Apple cider vinegar, produced by fermentation and acetic acid conversion of apple juice, is a further-downstream derivative; metals present in the juice carry through fermentation and into the vinegar, and the concentration may shift depending on process losses. Baby food purées based on apple are a critical exposure route for infants, as examined in the weaning food context by Signes-Pastor et al. 2018.

Mitigation options

Sourcing levers

Sourcing apples from orchards without a history of lead arsenate pesticide use reduces the risk of legacy soil Pb and arsenate contamination. Geographic provenance, particularly distinguishing modern commercial orchards from older heritage orchards in regions with documented pesticide legacy, is the primary sourcing variable. No quantified data specifically for apple orchards on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Agronomic levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Processing levers

Washing and peeling remove surface-deposited lead. Discarding pomace rather than reincorporating it into juice or concentrate reduces metal carryover from solids. Quantified reduction factors for washing and peeling are not available in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Formulation levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Testing and QC levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Packaging and storage levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Regulatory limits that apply

In the European Union, Regulation (EU) 2023/915 establishes a maximum level for Pb in fresh fruit (including apples) of 0.10 mg/kg (100 ppb) and for Cd of 0.050 mg/kg (50 ppb), both on a wet weight basis as placed on the market (eu2023-contaminants-maximum-levels). For apple juice and apple cider intended for infants and young children, EU law applies a stricter Pb ML of 0.020 mg/kg (20 ppb). In the United States, the FDA has established an action level for inorganic arsenic in apple juice at 10 ppb (see FDA 2023 and the apple-juice ingredient page). For apple as a whole fruit, no FDA commodity-specific action level for Pb or Cd exists under the current Closer to Zero framework (fda-closer-to-zero); the FDA’s priority for Pb action levels in the Closer to Zero program targets processed infant and toddler food categories rather than raw whole fruit. No Codex Alimentarius ML for Pb in apples appears in the current corpus.

Sources

Auto-generated from source-page frontmatter. The “Used on this page for” column is populated by the orchestrator’s POPULATE-SOURCE-LEGEND action; pending entries appear as *[awaiting synthesis]*.

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.