New Limits for Arsenic Proposed by F.D.A.

Nearly two years after an outcry about arsenic in apple juice touched off by a segment on “The Dr. Oz Show,” the federal Food and Drug Administration is proposing a new limit on acceptable levels.

The new standard for arsenic, a carcinogen when consumed in large enough quantities, is 10 parts per billion, equal to the level that the Environmental Protection Agency has set for arsenic in drinking water. Experts said the allowable amount was relatively conservative since people typically drink far less apple juice than water.

Apple juice with arsenic levels that exceed the new target might be subject to action by the agency, including seizure, said Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the F.D.A. commissioner. The proposed target will be finalized only after comments from industry and the public, she said.

It is the first time that the agency has set a limit for arsenic levels in food.

The issue came to the public’s attention in 2011 when the physician and television personality Mehmet Oz charged that total arsenic levels in apple juice were too high. He was criticized at the time for not distinguishing between the toxic, inorganic form of arsenic and its organic cousin, which is believed to be less toxic.

Several months later, Consumer Reports published an investigation that found elevated levels of the toxic type.

Children are of special concern. They tend to drink more juice per pound of body weight than adults, and they are undergoing rapid neurological development that could be hurt by high levels of arsenic.

Dr. Hamburg said the agency conducted its own analysis and found apple juice to be safe. About 97 percent of the 260 samples the agency tested from 2008 to 2011 were well below the new standard, she said.

A handful of samples came in above the new target. They would be considered outliers and potential candidates for agency action. All but one contained less than 20 parts per billion. The sample with the highest level, 43 parts per billion, was an import from Turkey that was seized.

The agency had previously said that 23 parts per billion was a “level of concern,” but that target was informal, based on a review of scientific literature, and not the result of the agency’s study, said Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods at the F.D.A.

“We decided to set an action level in part because there was a level that was out there that F.D.A. had informally set, and we thought it was not the best level based on our analysis,” Dr. Hamburg said. The new level was also an effort “to respond to concerns of consumers” after the Consumer Reports investigation, she said.

Keeve Nachman, a scientist who studies arsenic in food at the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University, said the policy made “good sense,” but he added that “the real question is how are they going to monitor and enforce this.”

The Juice Products Association, an industry group, said in a statement that the new limit might present problems for producers because the trace amounts of arsenic in concentrate could put total levels above the 10 parts per billion allowed, when combined with drinking water.

Mr. Taylor said the agency would continue to do what he called “surveillance sampling,” in which agency scientists collect samples of fruit juices and test them for arsenic. He said the new standard would “serve as a trigger for taking action.”

About 60 percent of all apple juice in the United States is imported from China, where lax environmental controls have sometimes led to high levels of contaminants in food. But Dr. Hamburg said the arsenic levels in Chinese juice were no higher than juice produced in other places.