Summary
Dabeka and McKenzie measured lead, cadmium, and fluoride in Canadian market milk and approximately 115 infant formulas. The most useful Heavy Metal Index values are formula-category n, mean, median, and range values for lead and cadmium in ready-to-use formula, concentrated liquid formula, and formula powder. Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada
Study Scope
The study includes retail cow milk, evaporated milk, ready-to-use infant formula, concentrated liquid infant formula, infant formula powders, and electrolyte products. Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada
The source is older and reflects Canadian products and packaging conditions of the early-to-mid 1980s, including lead-soldered can effects; it is useful for historical and formulation/packaging variance, not as a current market benchmark. Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada
Formula Lead Findings
Concentrations are reported as ng/g, equivalent to ug/kg or ppb for these food matrices. Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada
| Product category | N | Mean Pb | Median Pb | Range Pb | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ready-to-use formula, glass | 20 | 2.54 ppb | 2.20 ppb | 0.1-4.5 ppb | Hospital glass-bottled products; not typical retail access. |
| Ready-to-use formula, canned | 15 | 37.3 ppb | 26.0 ppb | 1.1-122 ppb | Canned products; lead-soldered cans were a major historical driver. |
| Concentrated liquid formula, canned | 30 | 21.0 ppb | 15.9 ppb | 1.2-67 ppb | Canned concentrate. |
| Formula powder concentrate | 31 | 73.7 ppb | 45 ppb | 3.7-532 ppb | Powder concentrate; 1980 samples were higher than 1985 samples. |
| Formula powder concentrate, collected 1980 | 25 | 88.7 ppb | 48 ppb | 9-532 ppb | Historical subset. |
| Formula powder concentrate, collected 1985 | 6 | 11.5 ppb | 6.6 ppb | 3.7-19 ppb | Small historical subset. |
Formula Cadmium Findings
| Product category | N | Mean Cd | Median Cd | Range Cd | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ready-to-use formulas, all | 29 | 1.42 ppb | 0.80 ppb | 0.05-7.55 ppb | Includes milk-base and milk-free/soy-base formulas. |
| Ready-to-use formula, milk-base | 13 | 0.27 ppb | 0.08 ppb | 0.05-0.78 ppb | Non-soy/milk-base subset. |
| Ready-to-use formula, milk-free or soy-base | 16 | 2.35 ppb | 1.64 ppb | 0.18-7.55 ppb | Soy or milk-free subset. |
| Concentrated liquid formulas, all | 30 | 3.54 ppb | 1.43 ppb | 0.07-16.6 ppb | Includes milk-base and milk-free/soy-base formulas. |
| Concentrated liquid formula, milk-base | 15 | 0.54 ppb | 0.32 ppb | 0.07-1.43 ppb | Non-soy/milk-base subset. |
| Concentrated liquid formula, milk-free or soy-base | 15 | 6.53 ppb | 5.32 ppb | 1.91-16.6 ppb | Soy or milk-free subset. |
| Infant formula powders, all | 32 | 6.78 ppb | 1.4 ppb | <0.07-35 ppb | Includes milk-base and milk-free/soy-base formulas. |
| Infant formula powders, milk-base | 17 | 1.02 ppb | 0.6 ppb | <0.07-4.3 ppb | Best historical non-soy powder fit. |
| Infant formula powders, milk-free or soy-base | 15 | 13.3 ppb | 12.0 ppb | 1.1-35 ppb | Best historical soy/milk-free powder fit. |
Interpretation For Category 1
The cadmium table is especially useful for the row split between Infant Formula, Powder (Non-Soy) and Infant Formula, Powder (Soy-Based) because it separates milk-base powder from milk-free or soy-base powder. Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada
The lead table is useful for historical packaging variance because canned formulas had much higher lead than glass-bottled or lead-free-can products. Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada
Limitations
This source should not be used as a current-market concentration benchmark without newer corroborating evidence. Product formulations, packaging materials, and regulatory controls have changed since the 1980s. Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada
The lead powder table does not separate milk-base from soy-base formula powders; the cadmium table does. Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada
Pages Updated
- Infant Formula, Powder (Non-Soy)
- Infant Formula, Powder (Soy-Based)
- Infant Formula, RTF Liquid (Non-Soy)
- Infant Formula, RTF Liquid (Soy-Based)
Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and 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.
| Commit | Date | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 1 source added; 8 sections added; narrative text revised |