Currently, there are no laws that establish heavy metal thresholds in food, however FDA’s Closer to Zero initiative aims to establish action levels for heavy metals in baby food. Set action levels for heavy metals would not establish a permissible level of contamination, but are used by government agencies like FDA to help lower the levels of contaminants in food when the presence of a contaminant is unavoidable.

Laws are created by Congress, and if heavy metal limits were to be signed into law, government agencies like FDA would establish regulations to help implement the law.