Why is There Lead in My Balsamic Vinegar?
Do you ever read the fine print on your vinegar? I certainly did not, until one day I noticed my organic balsamic vinegar had a Proposition 65 warning! In fine print, the label reads:
This product contains lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.
There’s lead in my vinegar! Sure, I accept there is lead in my children’s toys, but in the vinegar we love on our salads…that’s alarming! According to Napa Valley Naturals, makers of my favorite organic olive oil and balsamic vinegar,
All balsamic and red wine vinegars contain naturally occurring lead. Lead is naturally absorbed by all things that grow in the ground, including the grapes used to make vinegar. Most balsamic and red wine vinegars have lead levels equal to or less than 34 parts per million. An average person would need to consume 1 to 2 cups of balsamic or red wine vinegar per day to reach the Proposition 65 lead level minimum threshold, which includes a 1000-fold safety margin.
This may be true, that the lead level is low in balsamic vinegar, but in combination with all of the other ways my children may be exposed to lead, I am concerned. Also, if lead is naturally absorbed from the soil by plants, wouldn’t all our food contain lead? Why doesn’t my red wine vinegar contain the Proposition 65 warning?
In 2004, the Environmental Law Foundation of Oakland filed suit against vinegar makers and sellers. “There are balsamics that don’t have elevated lead, which tells us it (safe manufacturing) can be done,” said James Wheaton, head of the Environmental Law Foundation. This is one of the first cases to use California’s right-to-know law into the grocery store.
There is some debate as to the cause of lead in balsamic vinegar, whether it is naturally occurring or a part of manufacturing. Tangergreen writes,
I have encountered two explanations of this, the first being that lead gets into vinegar during the process of manufacturing, and the other being that wine grapes suck lead up out of the ground. There seems to be some bias behind both of these explanations, leaving us, the consumer, with only the fact that there is enough lead in red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar to merit the proposition 65 warning.
The manufacturing of balsamic vinegar is similar to the production of fine wine. Does that mean there is lead in my wine? Well, at least my gasoline is lead-free.
Image courtesy of WorldPantry.com.
That’s interesting. I had no idea. I’ve been enjoying balsamic and oil dips with bread as a good way to increase healthy fats and decrease cholesterol.
The other day, I found pomegranate vinegar here in Korea and it would be very tasty on salads. I’m not sure how common it is around the world, but it’s worth checking out. Pomegranates are also heart-healthy.
I too have been trying to figure out how lead gets into balsamic vinegar. So, wine making grapes absorb lead and grapes we eat and make into raisins and grape juice does not? And how about chocolate and sweet pickles. How does lead get into these products? What a crazy world we live in - a world where businesses do not have to fully disclose how toxins get into the products we eat, wear, and use.
Does anyone know which, if any balsamic vinegars do not have excess lead? I loved my vinegar but am disheartened by this information!
Robin, do you live in CA? Our local coop has a prop 65 warning by the ones that have a higher lead content. The Napa Valley Naturals one pictured above is not under the sign, but the label says it has lead.
We have small children so I have been doing some research. Lead in balsamic appears to come from two sources; lead in the old plumbing in Italy and straight from the over worked land where this same lead has been leaching and recycling for centuries. So what is an acceptable level of lead for my children? I say none, if I can help it. I recently found a small company (O Olive Oil) out of California that has begun making excellent California balsamics certified lead-free. Ordered a bottle and it is delicious! Bye, bye Italian balsamic. Has anyone been following the scandal around Italian olive oil? Yucck!
[...] Why is There Lead in My Balsamic Vinegar? [...]
Lead is not a very water soluable element. The only way to get concentrations of lead in food, or potable liquids is to raise the acidity, or decrease the pH. Vinegar has a very low pH, so more lead can dissolve in this solution. Therefore it contains more lead, around 30ppm. Foods which uptake lead from soils cannot contain lead above the soluable limit. You would have to eats hundreds of apples or corn, to expose yourself to enough lead to be toxic. At this point, the lead poisoning is the least of your concerns as you probably wouldn’t be able to leave the toilet.
The reason lead is toxic is because it is not very soluable in water. This means living organisms have not been exposed to much lead through our evolution, we could not build up an resistance to it. You can’t get used to what’s not there.
Sean