To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced a new initiative called Closer to Zero, which is an action plan that identifies steps the agency will take over the next three years (and beyond) to reduce exposure to toxic elements from foods eaten by babies and young children to as low as possible. 1 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the agency) recognizes that exposure to toxic elements including arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury from foods depends on the levels of the elements in the food and the amount consumed. The levels of the toxic elements in foods also depends on many factors. Thus, the FDA acknowledges that reducing levels of toxic elements in foods is complicated and multifaceted, as well as that it is “crucial that measures taken to limit toxic elements in foods do not have unintended consequences – like eliminating from the marketplace foods that have significant nutritional benefits or reducing the presence of one toxic element while increasing another.”