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FDA Total Diet Study · FY2018–FY2020

Heavy Metals in Food, Water & Salt

Estimate your daily lead and arsenic exposure from common foods, drinking water, and salt using official FDA analytical data.

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We Live on Planet Earth — and That Matters

We are surrounded by the earth's natural elements every day — in the soil our food grows in, the water we drink, and the minerals in our salt. Lead and arsenic exist naturally in the earth's crust, and because of that, trace amounts end up in virtually everything we eat and drink. This is normal. Our bodies are designed to handle small amounts of naturally occurring heavy metals.

Through actual laboratory testing, researchers have identified the intake levels at which lead and arsenic begin to show measurable adverse effects. For lead, the observed test level is 88 μg per day for adults, and 22 μg per day for children and women of childbearing age. For arsenic, the observed test level is 2.1 mg per kg of body weight per day — meaning it scales with how much a person weighs. For lead, regulatory agencies apply a 10× safety factor to set a conservative "safe" threshold — arriving at 8.8 μg/day for adults. For arsenic, the 2.1 mg/kg/day figure is used directly as the reference level.

Use this calculator to see how your daily food, water, and salt choices add up — and how they compare to the actual observed test levels (88 μg lead for adults / 2.1 mg/kg/day arsenic) before any safety margin is applied.

🥦 Food Exposure Calculator

Select up to 5 foods and enter the amount consumed. Micrograms (μg) are calculated from FDA mean concentration data.

Total food entered 0.0 oz  |  0.00 lbs
Add more food to approach a realistic daily total (1,400–2,300 g)
Total Lead from Food
0.00μg
Total Arsenic from Food
0.00μg
About this data: Values are mean concentrations in parts per billion (ppb = μg/kg) from the FDA Total Diet Study FY2018–2020. Micrograms consumed = ppb × grams eaten ÷ 1,000. A value of 0 means the element was below the detection limit in that food.

💧 Water — Daily Lead & Arsenic Exposure

The EPA action level for lead in tap water is 15 ppb; the MCL for arsenic is 10 ppb. Enter your body weight to see your daily exposure from drinking water.

60 lbs150 lbs250 lbs350 lbs
0 ppb15 ppb30 ppb50 ppb
Lead levels in context — Flint, Michigan
100–1,000 ppb Levels found in many individual Flint homes
~13,000 ppb Peak level recorded at a single Flint residence
Click a level above to set the slider. The 15 ppb action level — often cited as "safe" — is 867× lower than Flint's worst recorded tap water.
0 ppb10 ppb30 ppb50 ppb
Recommended daily water intake —
Lead consumed from water (daily) —
Arsenic consumed from water (daily) —
Total Lead from Water
0.000μg
Total Arsenic from Water
0.000μg
EPA Action Level for Lead: 15 ppb triggers required mitigation by water utilities. The MCLG for lead is 0 ppb. EPA MCL for Arsenic: 10 ppb is the maximum allowed in public water systems. Daily water estimated at 0.033 L per kg body weight (standard recommendation).

🧂 Salt — Daily Lead & Arsenic Exposure

Lead and arsenic concentrations in salt vary by source. Adjust sliders to match your salt's known or estimated levels.

50 ppb150275400 ppb
0 ppb100200300 ppb
0.5 g5 g12 g20 g
Daily salt consumed —
Lead from salt (daily) —
Arsenic from salt (daily) —
Total Lead from Salt
0.000μg
Total Arsenic from Salt
0.000μg

📊 Daily Exposure Summary

Combined lead and arsenic exposure from all sources entered above.

Lead Arsenic
From Food
0.000 μg Pb 0.000 μg As
From Water
0.000 μg Pb 0.000 μg As
From Salt
0.000 μg Pb 0.000 μg As
Total Daily Lead
0.00 μg
0% of 88 μg observed test level
Total Daily Arsenic
0.00 μg
0% of — μg observed test level (2.1 mg/kg/day × your weight)
Source: FDA Total Diet Study FY2018–FY2020 — mean concentrations measured across samples purchased in U.S. grocery stores.

🔬 How Big Is Your Lead Exposure, Really?

Each bubble's size shows how much lead comes from each source. The dashed circle is the 88 μg observed test level.

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Grain of Salt Comparison
One grain of table salt weighs about 60,000 μg. Your total daily lead of — μg means you'd have to split that grain into — equal pieces — just one of those pieces would equal your entire day's lead exposure.
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Human Hair Comparison
A single strand of human hair weighs about 60–100 μg per millimeter. Your daily lead of — μg is roughly equivalent to — mm of one hair — completely invisible to the naked eye.