asked the Minister for Health if he will give details of the investigation which his Department propose to carry out with regard to the lead content of canned baby food in this country; and if his Department are aware of any instances where the safety limits have been exceeded in this respect.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Canned Baby Food.
19.
I am not in a position at this stage to furnish the details requested by the Deputy in the first part of his question, as I propose, in the first instance, to seek the advice of the Food Advisory Committee in the matter.
With regard to the second part of his question, I presume that the Deputy is referring to the proposed British limit of 0.5 parts per million for lead in canned baby food. In a preliminary analysis of such foods carried out in this country by the regional public analysts only one sample was found to exceed this limit, having a lead content of 0.6 parts per million. The average lead content of the samples analysed was well below 0.5 parts per million.