FDA Sets 'Action Level' On Arsenic In Apple Juice

A childhood favorite just got safer, per order of the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA proposed an "action level" of 10 parts per billion for inorganic arsenic in apple juice, according to a press release. This is the same level required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for arsenic in drinking water.

While the FDA assures that the levels of arsenic in apple juice have been consistently low, there have been "a few exceptions" over the past 20 years that the administration has been monitoring the juice.

"While the levels of arsenic in apple juice are very low, the FDA is proposing an action level to help prevent public exposure to the occasional lots of apple juice with arsenic levels above those permitted in drinking water," said Michael R. Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, in a press release.

Inorganic arsenic is a carcinogen and has also has been linked to skin lesions, developmental effects, cardiovascular disease, neurotoxicity, and diabetes. The substance is found in foods because it is in the environment, both as a "naturally occurring mineral" and because of use of arsenic-containing pesticides, according to a press release.