POLLUTANTS Total Diet Study

Some examples of pollutants the Food and Drug Administration measures in the Total Diet Study:
DDT, the pesticide -- Banned here in 1972 but still used in parts of the world and persistent in U.S. soil, DDT still is found in 23 percent of foods FDA tests for pesticide residue. But the traces are so tiny that Americans' daily exposure is 300 times below the World Health Organization's limit of 10 micrograms per kilogram of body weight.
Methyl chlorpyrifos, an insecticide -- Exposure has jumped since the 1980s. Levels rarely exceed 0.05 parts per million, but in 2001 FDA discovered teething biscuits containing twice as much. That was still well below the safety limit of 6 ppm for wheat-containing foods, but the teething biscuits were supposed to be organic, prompting FDA to alert organic-standards officials in California, where the brand was made.
Volatile organic compounds -- These chemicals, which include solvents and combustion byproducts, migrate into foods from processing or environmental exposure, usually at concentrations between 10 and 100 parts per billion. Most commonly found are toluene, in such foods as cheeses, meats, peanut butter, margarine and chocolate; and benzene, in such foods as ground beef, bananas and diet colas. While there aren't set safety limits for most foods, a spike prompts investigation.
Lead -- Food exposure has plummeted since lead solder in cans began disappearing in the 1970s. The average lead level in baby foods, for example, has dropped from 0.15 milligrams per kilogram in the 1970s to 0.003 mg in the 1990s.
Source: Associated Press