A key ingredient in rocket fuel can be found in a wide array of grocery products, especially baby food, fast food and fresh fruits and vegetables, according to an explosive new investigation from Consumer Reports.
Perchlorate, a chemical used in the production of rocket fuel and fireworks, has been linked to thyroid problems in adults and brain damage in fetuses and newborns.
Consumer Reports found the chemical in about 67% of the nearly 200 samples of supermarket and fast food items it tested.
“We found the highest perchlorate levels in certain fast foods and produce items, but concerningly, the category with the highest average level of perchlorate was baby and kid foods,” the consumer organization wrote in its Wednesday report. “Some of the baby and kid foods we tested that had the highest levels of perchlorate could quickly add up to a concerning amount.”
The levels ranged from just over 2 parts per billion (ppb) to 79 ppb — not enough to immediately be hazardous, but they could add up to potentially be dangerous.
Foods in plastic containers clocked the highest levels (nearly 54 ppb on average) while children’s food came in at 19.4 ppb, followed by fruits and vegetables, fast food, baked goods, dairy, meats, seafood and beverages.
Consumer Reports said these tests did not reveal why certain foods had higher levels of perchlorate, but researchers posit that the plastics of packaged goods could be to blame. Fresh produce, meanwhile, may become contaminated with perchlorate if it is irrigated with contaminated water.
Perchlorate has long been known to be a problem.
In 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a daily perchlorate exposure limit of 0.7 micrograms per kilogram of body weight — a dosage that Consumer Reports says is too much.
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) daily intake is only 0.3 micrograms per kilogram of body weight.
“Some of the baby and kid foods we tested that had the highest levels of perchlorate could quickly add up to a concerning amount,” Consumer Reports noted. “For a child between 1 and 2 years old, a serving of the boxed mac and cheese we tested would hit nearly 50% of the EFSA limit, and servings of the baby rice cereal, baby multigrain cereal, and organic yogurt we tested would each hit about a quarter of that limit.”
Citing the “best available peer reviewed science,” the EPA announced in 2020 that it wouldn’t regulate perchlorate. A federal appeals court ruled last year that it must.
The agency has since promised to propose perchlorate regulation for drinking water by Nov. 21, 2025, and a final rule by May 21, 2027.
Consumer Reports hopes these limits spur contamination cleanup.
In the meantime, the organization recommends getting enough iodine.
Perchlorate interferes with the thyroid gland’s uptake of iodine, a mineral essential to hormone production. In adults, exposure to high levels of perchlorate can affect metabolic rate and/or incite hypothyroidism.
Concerns about the effects of perchlorate center on children and pregnant women, as thyroid hormones are pivotal to cognitive development, and any disruption can have lifelong consequences.
