Testing eggs for lead

[Julie2024]

Has anyone tested their eggs for lead? Also, does anyone know what the safe amount of lead in an egg considered to be? I know some store brought eggs can contain a small amount of lead but I read backyard chickens tend to have more. I got my eggs tested and they came back with 0.013ppm of lead and I’m not sure whether or not the eggs are safe to eat anymore. We tested because we live in an older home and they’ve pecked at our garage that has lead paint.

 

[Mrs. K]

Get official information on this.

 

[Julie2024]

Get official information on this.

Any recommendations as to where? I’ve been searching and am not having much luck.

 

[Perris]

you might find this useful
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health

 

[DobieLover]

Has anyone tested their eggs for lead? Also, does anyone know what the safe amount of lead in an egg considered to be? I know some store brought eggs can contain a small amount of lead but I read backyard chickens tend to have more. I got my eggs tested and they came back with 0.013ppm of lead and I’m not sure whether or not the eggs are safe to eat anymore. We tested because we live in an older home and they’ve pecked at our garage that has lead paint.

I read that the FDA limit for daily consumption of lead without ill effect is no more than 8.8ug per day for adults.

Your eggs contain 0.013 ppm Pb. That equals 13 ug per liter of egg.
To put this in better context, one large egg weighs roughly 1.66 oz (without the shell). That means that on average 1 egg contains 1.54 ug of Pb. So to stay below the FDA max limit, you should not eat more than 5.5 eggs a day. That's a lot of eggs. But for children, that volume is halved.

I would clean up the property to mitigate the lead. I think you are more likely to be exposed to excessive lead from the paint in the house than eating the eggs. And in the meantime, fence off the areas that the chickens are pecking at the peeling paint to keep them from continuing to expose themselves. It will cause neurological issues for them.

 

[aart]

Any recommendations as to where?

I would think that the testing place would know?

 

[Julie2024]

I read that the FDA limit for daily consumption of lead without ill effect is no more than 8.8ug per day for adults.

Your eggs contain 0.013 ppm Pb. That equals 13 ug per liter of egg.
To put this in better context, one large egg weighs roughly 1.66 oz (without the shell). That means that on average 1 egg contains 1.54 ug of Pb. So to stay below the FDA max limit, you should not eat more than 5.5 eggs a day. That's a lot of eggs. But for children, that volume is halved.

I would clean up the property to mitigate the lead. I think you are more likely to be exposed to excessive lead from the paint in the house than eating the eggs. And in the meantime, fence off the areas that the chickens are pecking at the peeling paint to keep them from continuing to expose themselves. It will cause neurological issues for them.

Thank you so much! Thankfully our home does not have lead paint inside the home. It’s on the outside. Mostly the garage and outside of doors. May I ask where you got your sources from? I’ve been trying to search and didn’t find anything even on FDA website.

 

[Julie2024]

I would think that the testing place would know?

Yes one would think but they told me they can give no interpretation, just results and that’s it. Go figure

 

[Julie2024]

you might find this useful
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health

Thank you!

 

[DobieLover]

Yes one would think but they told me they can give no interpretation, just results and that’s it. Go figure

https://blogs.edf.org/health/2022/0...-fdas-new-daily-maximum-intake-level-of-lead/