Is Balsamic Vinegar Leading to Lead Poisoning?

"Once in awhile I'll eat whole wheat bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I don't do this too often. But the other day at the grocers while looking at their collection of balsamic vinegars a sign was posted warning customers that the vinegars contain lead?! How long has this been going on and how is lead getting into the vinegars? Now I'm worried."

Jeremy Mates / CC BY 2.0

I've received a few questions about the lead content of balsamic vinegar on my Healthy Cooking message board, so I did a little research. In 2004, an environmental law group filed suit in the state of California claiming that lead levels in balsamic and wine vinegars violated California Prop. 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.

I wouldn't throw your balsamic vinegar away, but I would stay tuned in in the coming years as they figure out whether the lead content in some types of balsamic vinegar might be higher than expected and if so, why.

Lead has been in the environment for ages as a toxic metal (it's in the air, water, factory pollution, some pipes, old paint, some imported pottery, and in soil). People have been manufacturing and consuming balsamic vinegar for hundreds of years.

I looked up some details on how this type of vinegar is produced in THE FOOD ENCYCLOPEDIA. It is made from the cooked and concentrated MUST of white grapes in the area around Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy. The juice of local Trebbiano grapes is aged in a succession of 12 kegs, each decreasing in size, made of different aromatic woods, such as juniper, mulberry, chestnut and red oak. Sounds simple enough, but this process can take from the required minimum of 12 years aged in wood to as long as 50 years! Perhaps the small amount of lead is transferred from the containers it is being stored in all those years? Or is it getting into the grapes through contaminated water in certain areas? Is it getting into the grapes from the soil? I'm just brainstorming here. Testing appears to be going on as we speak so perhaps we'll know more in the near future.

Meanwhile, I personally would worry more about the lead in my environment (water, air, old paint etc.) and less about the balsamic vinegar I use a few times a week. Just my opinion!

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Eating Healthy in a Polluted World: The Beijing "Shutdown"

How Researchers Are Taking Advantage of The Beijing "Shutdown"

It's no surprise that Beijing, where the Olympics were held, is known to be a highly polluted city. You may have heard during the Olympic coverage that there was something of an industrial "shutdown" that took place before and during the Olympics. Out of concern for the athletes, Chinese officials agreed to reduce industrial activity by as much as 30% and mandated cuts in automobile use by half to curb industrial emissions for the Olympics.

In my mind this brought the point home that big pollution producers exist in the world and we all share the air. But I didn't bring this up to depress everyone. I was thrilled to read that American researchers were actually able to take advantage of this unique opportunity. A National Science Foundation funded project is using specially equipped unmanned aircraft to measure and track dust, soot and other pollution aerosols that travel from Beijing and other parts of China in atmospheric brown clouds. They will be able to observe how the atmosphere responds when a heavily populated area substantially curbs everyday industrial emissions.

Black carbon in soot is considered to be a major contributor to global warming. According to the chief scientist on the project, V. Ramanathan, "By determining the effects of soot reduction during the Olympics on atmospheric heating, we can gain much needed insights into the magnitude of future global warming."

Satellite and ground observations began on August 1 while pre-inspection test flights by the unmanned aircraft began August 9. Testing will continue through September 30. You can read more about this fascinating study on the National Science Foundation web site..

Again, as I said in my previous blog entry, "What does all of this have to do with eating healthy? Because what goes up must come down...The airborne pollutants eventually return to the land where they can contaminate the soil and water and that is where we grow the food we eat."

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• Eating Healthy in a Polluted World
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