Arsenic In Pear Juice, Health Canada Update Reassures Parents

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 20 Mar 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Health Canada would like to reassure parents about the recent recall of two brands of pear juice products as a result of higher than normal levels of arsenic.

The recall by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Loblaws Inc. was conducted as a precaution to prevent long-term exposure to arsenic. The levels that were found, while being higher than would normally be found in this type of juice, are not high enough to represent a risk to children or adults from short term exposure.

In this case, Health Canada considers short term exposure to be a period of several weeks or months, while long term exposure would be consumption of these levels of arsenic over many years or decades.

If you have the products in your home they should not be consumed in order to minimize your exposure. However, if you or your children have already consumed this juice there is no need for other actions since even the highest levels of arsenic found in these products are not high enough to pose a health risk when consumed as part of a normal diet over the short term.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring chemical element found throughout our environment and its living systems. Low background levels of arsenic may be found in a wide variety of foods and generally reflect normal accumulation from the environment.

The elevated levels of arsenic were found as a result of Health Canada's regular food surveillance activities to collect data about our food supply.

Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) work together to protect Canada's food supply. Health Canada is responsible for setting standards and regulations and the CFIA is responsible for enforcing those standards.

Health Canada