State Public Health Policy

The Florida Department of Health says lab tests on 46 candy products from 10 companies detected arsenic in 28 of them, prompting new questions about how the FDA and industry evaluate heavy metals in sweets, especially those marketed to children. As part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Healthy Florida First initiative, officials bought candies online and in stores statewide and sent them to a certified lab using EPA Method 6010D, which measures total arsenic but does not distinguish between less‑toxic organic and more‑toxic inorganic forms. The department then calculated hypothetical "safe" annual intake levels using children’s body weights, but did not name brands in this article excerpt, issue recalls, or claim that occasional consumption poses an acute health emergency, emphasizing that risk depends on frequency and cumulative exposure. The National Confectioners Association, representing U.S. candy makers, blasted the report as "misguided," saying it uses benchmarks that do not match federal standards, relies on unrealistic assumptions about year‑long candy consumption, and conflicts with FDA’s Closer to Zero program and Total Diet Study data showing lower arsenic levels in confectionery. Florida officials insist their testing is meant to supplement, not replace, federal oversight, but the clash highlights a growing fight between state‑level "Make America Healthy Again" initiatives and national regulators over how aggressively to police heavy metals in foods children eat. Public‑health advocates online are seizing on the findings to demand brand transparency and stricter federal limits, while industry and some toxicologists warn against stoking panic without clearer speciation data and exposure context.