No, Goldfish crackers do not contain dangerously high levels of ‘weed killer’

By: Umme Kulsum
May 30 2023

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Context

A Facebook reel warning people against eating Campbell Soup Company's Goldfish Crackers and other snacks went viral on social media. The video was shared on Facebook by Sean Christopher, who claims that the snack contains "high levels of the weed pesticide glyphosate, which has been directly associated with cancer." Christopher quotes from a study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to make this claim.

He adds that pesticides are also present in other snacks such as Cheerios and Oreos.

The post garnered about 36,000 likes at the time of writing this story. It has also been shared on TikTok.

However, the claim is incorrect. Glyphosate isn't mentioned as an ingredient in Goldfish crackers. Secondly, traces of the herbicide are found in several food products and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it's "not of concern."

In Fact

Glyphosate is a herbicide used to control weeds and grass. Due to its use in agriculture, there are traces of glyphosate in fresh fruits, vegetables, cereals, and other food and beverage commodities. However, "these trace amounts are not of concern for the consumer," according to the EPA.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that EPA has established tolerances for safe use of glyphosate on a wide range of human and animal food crops. It ranges from 0.1 to 400 parts per million (ppm).

The EPA also says, "The draft human health risk assessment concludes that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans. The agency's assessment found no other meaningful risks to human health when the product is used according to the pesticide label." It further states that there is no evidence that glyphosate causes cancer in humans.

In fact, the study quoted by the user in the video doesn't specifically mention Goldfish crackers' link with glyphosate. In 2018, NBC News, in its report titled "weed killer in your Cereal? Maybe, but don't panic," stated that the EWG "is not neutral on the issue." The report further adds that some of the research by EWG on glyphosate in food products wasn't published in peer-reviewed publications.

Glyphosate is not listed as an ingredient

Further, the pesticide is not included in the list of ingredients provided by Campbell Soup Company on their official website. Speaking to U.S.-based fact-checking website PolitiFact, a spokesperson of Cambell Soup Company said that the company follows the standard for pesticide use set by the EPA.

The post is alarmist and has no backing of facts.

Verdict

The pesticide glyphosate is not included in the ingredients of Goldfish crackers. And EPA says that traces of the herbicide in food products is not of concern.