In April 2022, US FDA issued draft guidance for the industry regarding the action levels of lead in juice. The current maximum level of lead in fruit juices is 50 parts per billion (ppb) as described by CODEX and in the Guidance for Industry: Juice HACCP Guidance.
In consideration of JECFA’s conclusion (Joint World Health Organization (WHO)/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Expert Committee on Food Additives) that no safe level of lead exposure from food has been identified and by review of U.S. data to determine the achievability of lower levels of lead in juice and consideration of the Interim Reference Level (IRL) of 3 µg/day of dietary lead for children, FDA establishes a new action level for lead as 10 ppb for apple juice on a single-strength (ready-to-drink) basis and an action level for lead of 20 ppb for other single-strength juice types, including juice blends that contain apple juice. When this draft guidance gets finalized, the Juice HACCP Guidance may be updated to reflect the new action levels. The comments regarding this draft guidance can be submitted online by 28th June 2022.
Read the complete draft here.
