Baby formula is safer than ever, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says after conducting the largest and most comprehensive formula testing ever done in the United States.

In March 2025, the FDA launched Operation Stork Speed with the goal of increasing access to safe, nutritious, and reliable formula for families. Part of this initiative included testing some of the biggest brands of baby formula for contaminants like heavy metals and potentially harmful chemicals.

"Across the products tested, an overwhelming majority of samples had undetectable or very low levels of contaminants, affirming that the U.S. infant formula supply is safe," the FDA wrote in a statement about the test released on April 29.

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Key Takeaways
  • The FDA's largest-ever testing effort found that baby formula in the U.S. is overwhelmingly safe, with most samples showing undetectable or very low levels of contaminants.
  • Hundreds of formula samples were tested for things like heavy metals, pesticides, and forever chemicals.
  • Even when small amounts of substances were detected, they were at extremely low levels — the kind modern tests can spot but that aren't considered harmful.

What did the FDA test baby formula for?

The FDA tested 312 baby formula samples from 16 brands, including powdered, concentrated liquid, and ready-to-feed formulas with cow's milk, soy, and amino acid bases. The agency didn't share which specific formula brands or products it tested.

The tests looked for the following substances:

  • Arsenic
  • Cadmium
  • Lead
  • Mercury
  • 318 types of pesticides
  • 30 different PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), aka "forever chemicals"
  • 21 phthalates and 1 non-phthalate plasticizer

The agency also tested some breast milk for arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead.

It's normal for small amounts of these substances to be found in food, since they occur naturally or because humans introduce them to the environment where the ingredients are grown.

What did the FDA find?

The majority of the formula samples tested had undetectable or very low levels of contaminants.

Here's a breakdown of what percentage of the samples had contaminants, and how much of the contaminant was detected. For context, one part per billion (ppb) is equivalent to one drop of water in an Olympic-size swimming pool.

  • Tiny amounts of arsenic were detected in 94% of the samples, and the average ppb was 0.5.
  • Tiny amounts of cadmium were detected in 76% of the samples, and the average ppb was 0.2.
  • Tiny amounts of lead were detected in 80% of the samples, and the average ppb was also 0.2.
  • Mercury was detected in only 5% of the samples. So little mercury was found in the samples that the FDA didn't calculate an average ppb.
  • Pesticides were detected in only 1% of the samples, and the amount was so small that an average ppb wasn't calculated.
  • Of the 30 PFAS tested, only five were detected in the samples; 95% of the samples that did have one of the five PFAS had levels lower than 0.0029 ppb.
  • Phthalates were detected in 46% of the samples, but most of the phthalates were detected in amounts so small that the FDA didn't calculate an average ppb.

Modern testing methods can detect miniscule amounts of contaminants — so small that their presence isn't enough to be harmful. So even if a contaminant is detected in a product, it could still be safe.

The FDA is also working to establish action levels for these contaminants in formula — or limits for how much of a contaminant is allowed in a product before it must be taken off shelves.

"While overall levels of contaminants in the infant formula samples tested were low, the FDA is following up with additional testing as part of the agency’s ongoing robust monitoring and oversight efforts and will take additional action where appropriate," the FDA wrote in its statement.