Committee hears testimony on bill to test baby food for toxic heavy metals; discussion turns to infant formula

At a committee hearing on House Bill 536, lawmakers heard from Randy Querrey, director of governmental relations for the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation, about how laboratories would verify that baby food is free of toxic heavy metals.

Querrey told the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry committee that AA4LA "accredits over 4,500 labs, 4,515 as of this morning" and that the ISO/IEC 17025 standard is the appropriate baseline for testing and calibration. He described the accreditation process, including 2–3 day on‑site assessments, equipment calibration reviews, participation in proficiency testing and ongoing assessor evaluations, and emphasized accreditation is not "a rubber stamp."

The witness said the bill is "well written" and similar to laws already passed in Virginia, Maryland and California, but flagged a minor editorial issue in the draft (page 2, line 16) where the bill uses the word "or" and recommended it be "and" to reflect the joint ISO/IEC designation for the standard.

Committee members pressed on scope and implementation. Querrey noted the bill as drafted excludes infant formula; he said Maryland has proposed adding formula this year after a Consumer Reports test that examined 44 infant formulas and found contaminants in roughly half the samples. Representative Nelson emphasized that "the first food a baby may be exposed to is infant formula" and urged the committee to add formula to the bill. Querrey replied the laboratory testing matrix for infant formula is "very similar" to other baby foods and he did not anticipate extra difficulty for accredited food‑testing labs.

Representative Kirk asked whether aluminum should be included among the metals to test. Querrey said most state measures and Food and Drug Administration guidance focus on four metals—arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury—and that aluminum has not been a primary concern in his review, though the committee could add it if evidence of risk emerges.

Representative O'Brien asked whether breast milk is routinely tested for heavy metals; Querrey said he had not seen routine heavy‑metal testing of breast milk except in donor‑bank screening contexts and was not aware of standard heavy‑metal panels for breast milk.

On capacity, Querrey said AA4LA accredits six laboratories in Vermont but clarified that many of those laboratories are not food‑testing labs; he said the Vermont Department of Health Laboratory currently performs food testing and some regional producers might need to send samples out of state to accredited food‑testing laboratories. Querrey offered to provide contacts for accredited testing labs and to check who testified in Maryland on that state's measure.

The committee signaled interest in amending the bill to include infant formula and asked staff and the witness to follow up. No formal vote was recorded during the testimony portion of the hearing.

The committee concluded the witness testimony and moved on to administrative items and the next agenda speaker.