Arsenic Found In Dozens Of Popular Candies — Here's What To Know

Fans of candies and sweets will be deeply concerned to learn that a recent report from the Florida Department of Health has revealed many of America's most popular treats have a concerning amount of arsenic within them. The study was done on 46 immensely popular candies ranging from chocolate bars and nougat to taffy and gummy bears. Alarmingly, 28 of them don't just contain some amount of arsenic but rather have levels so high that experts say consumers should significantly limit their intake to remain safe from the harmful impacts of the toxic metalloid.

Candies found to contain particularly high levels of arsenic include Black Forest Gummy Bears, Laffy Taffy, Nerds, SweeTarts, Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers, Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme chocolate bars, Jolly Ranchers, Twizzlers, Kit Kat, 3 Musketeers, Snickers, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, Dots, Tootsie Rolls, and more. The full list of affected products, including their flavors and varieties, can be found on Healthy Florida First's Exposing Candy Toxins webpage.

Each of these candies contains different amounts of arsenic, but they all have between 180 and 570 parts per billion (ppb). The reason this research isn't leading to candy recalls is that there is no mandatory limit on how much arsenic can be found within most foods, including candy. Instead, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides some "action levels" — these are industry guidelines that are not legally enforceable. For example, infant rice cereal shouldn't have over 100 ppb, though this is higher than what many experts would consider safe. However, the Environmental Protection Agency does limit arsenic levels to 10 ppb in drinking water, and the FDA enforces the same limit for bottled water.

It's no secret that some foods contain arsenic and other harmful chemicals like lead. Small amounts of arsenic are found in so many foods due to the compound occurring naturally in the environment and because of pollution. It's not considered a chemical that needs to be avoided completely at all times, but rather one that should be limited as much as possible. 

Thus, the guidelines from the Exposing Candy Toxins list for how much of each candy could be dangerous for children and adults alike are incredibly useful. For example, Nerds Gummy Clusters contain 500 ppb of arsenic, among the highest of the tested candies in the study. For this reason, it's recommended that children have no more than about 24 pieces of the candy per year, while adults are limited to roughly 60 pieces of it.

The reason for these boundaries is, of course, just how dangerous arsenic can be to the human body at high levels. Heavy consumption of or long-term exposure to the chemical is known to increase your chances of getting lung, skin, or bladder cancer. It can also result in arsenic poisoning, which is known to cause severe nausea, abdominal pain, and vomiting, alongside even worse symptoms in extreme cases. Excessive levels of arsenic have been the cause of juice recalls, Campbell's soup controversies, and baby food recalls that affected millions.