Type a destination or look around. You'll find everything in here.
Philadelphia Cream Cheese · lead test breakdown

Is Philadelphia Cream Cheese lead-safe?

Lead Safe Mama tested one block in April 2025 and reported 120.6 ppb of lead. We retested an unopened sealed block at the same lab type and the result came back nondetect, below 2 ppb. Here is the full breakdown.

Quick answer

Two ICP-MS tests of Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese in 2025 produced very different results. Lead Safe Mama, sending a sample after opening and re-packaging it at home, reported 120.6 ppb of lead. We retested an unopened factory-sealed block, shipped sealed to the lab, and the result came back nondetect (less than 2 ppb). The two numbers cannot both describe the same cream cheese. The most likely explanation is sample contamination introduced during home-kitchen handling, which Lead Safe Mama discloses on every report.

At typical consumption (one ounce, ~28 grams) the dose math is either 3.4 µg of lead (155% of the FDA child IRL, if 120.6 were accurate) or ~0 µg (if nondetect is accurate). Our retest, the FDA's general dairy monitoring history, and the chain-of-custody arithmetic all point to nondetect being the right answer for the product on the shelf.

The two tests on record.

Same brand. Same product. Same year. Same lab type (ICP-MS). Two different chains of custody.

Lead Safe Mama · 1 sample
120.6 ppb Pb

Sent April 2025 to Purity Laboratories. Anonymized as "Lot# 2025-063" by Lead Safe Mama before mailing. Lab never saw the retail packaging. Source.

DetectLead · 1 sample
ND < 2 ppb Pb

Same month. Unopened retail block mailed direct from grocery shelf to Purity Labs. Factory seal intact at lab. ICP-MS, signed report.

Two batches of the same cream cheese from US dairies should not produce results 60× apart. Dairy is a relatively homogeneous matrix compared to cereal, spices, or root vegetables. So this case is one where ordinary batch variability is not a sufficient explanation. Chain-of-custody differences (sample anonymization, transfer, repacking before mailing) become the more likely story. Full breakdown on /pages/contested-foods.

The dose math, both ways.

Parts per billion is not a dose. Serving size does most of the work. Here is what the two test results would mean in actual exposure.

If the 120.6 ppb were accurate:
120.6 ppb × 28 g (1 oz serving) ÷ 1000 = 3.4 µg Pb per serving
3.4 µg ÷ 2.2 µg child IRL = 155% of the FDA child Interim Reference Level on a single bagel

If the nondetect retest is accurate:
ND × 28 g = ~0 µg Pb per serving
0% of the FDA child IRL.

The gap between "yes a public-health event on every bagel" and "ordinary cream cheese" is exactly why methodology matters. The 120.6 ppb is real data from a real lab. The retest of a sealed unit, also real data from the same lab type, came back at zero. The only thing that changed between the two tests was who handled the sample before it reached the lab.

Product facts.

Product Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese (Kraft Heinz)
Net weight per unit 8 oz (227 g)
USDA serving size 1 oz (28 g) per FDA Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed
Single-unit retail availability Yes, every grocery store. ~$4 to $6 per 8 oz block.
Country of origin USA (US dairies, Kraft Heinz facility)
Where to buy Amazon · Target · most grocery stores

What we'd recommend.

1. Don't panic-throw the cream cheese. The single 120.6 ppb result is a real number, but it was almost certainly contaminated during sample handling. Our retest of a sealed unit came back nondetect. Dairy is a relatively homogeneous matrix and the 60× gap is bigger than ordinary batch variation can explain.

2. If you want a third independent test on a specific batch, we'll run it. Mail a sealed unit to us and we will ship it sealed to Purity Labs. Lead Lottery details. $100 chips fund one panel.

3. Read the bigger picture. The Philadelphia case is one of several where a single ICP-MS test produced a public-health-headline number that did not survive a sealed-sample retest. /pages/contested-foods walks the contested cases. /pages/lsm-receipts is the audit of Lead Safe Mama's broader food-testing program (451 tests cataloged, 167 at Purity Labs since March 2025, $80 lab fee per panel).

Nominate Philadelphia Cream Cheese for a third independent retest.

If a community member chips in $100 to the Lead Lottery for this product, we buy a sealed unit at retail, ship it sealed to Purity Labs (the same lab Lead Safe Mama used), and publish the result side by side with both prior numbers. Same lab, real chain of custody, no anonymization.

The Lead Lottery → Contested test results →

Common questions.

Is Philadelphia Cream Cheese safe from lead?

Most likely yes, at typical consumption. One single-sample Lead Safe Mama test reported 120.6 ppb of lead. Our own retest of an unopened sealed block came back nondetect, below 2 ppb. The most likely explanation for the 60× gap is sample contamination introduced during home-kitchen handling. Dairy from US producers is a relatively homogeneous matrix and the FDA's general food-monitoring history does not show cream cheese as a lead-positive category.

How much lead did Lead Safe Mama find in Philadelphia Cream Cheese?

Lead Safe Mama published a result of 120.6 ppb of lead in a single block of Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese sent to Purity Laboratories in April 2025. The post graphic asserted the result represented 2,412% of the proposed action level for kids. Source.

Has anyone retested Philadelphia Cream Cheese?

Yes. We sent an unopened, factory-sealed retail block of Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese to Purity Labs (the same lab) for ICP-MS analysis in May 2025. The result came back nondetect, below the 2 ppb method detection limit.

Why do two ICP-MS tests of the same product disagree?

Two reasons typically. First, real batch-to-batch variability — different lots from different supply chains, harvests, or origin countries can carry different metal loads. Second, chain-of-custody differences — whether the sample was handled (opened, transferred, re-packaged) before it reached the lab. For dairy, batch variability is small, so chain of custody is the more likely explanation in this specific case.

What is the FDA daily reference for lead in food?

The FDA Interim Reference Level for lead is 2.2 micrograms per day for children and 8.8 micrograms per day for adults. At a 28g serving, 120.6 ppb of lead would deliver 3.4 micrograms (155% of the child IRL on one bagel, if it were accurate). At nondetect, the dose is essentially zero.

Where can I read more about single-sample food testing limitations?

Two pages on detectlead.com cover this in detail. /pages/contested-foods documents the cases where two samples of the same product disagreed. /pages/compare is the longer methodology argument on why XRF is wrong for food, why anonymized chain of custody breaks accreditation, and why FDA Total Diet Study is the right comparator.

What's in the toy box.

Pre-1978 painted toys, and imports anytime, are the next-highest-stake category after dishes.

US-made painted toys before 1978 often used lead pigments. Imports from countries with no enforcement bypass the 90 ppm CPSC limit. Vintage toys, hand-me-downs, and grandparent-house collectibles all warrant a quick XRF or drip test before they reach a kid's mouth.

Lifetime lead exposure timeline FETAL CHILD ADULT PARENT SENIOR

More tested products you might want to know.

Same Lead Safe Mama dataset, different angles. Browse by category, by brand, or jump out to the broader audit.

More dairy we've cataloged

Or zoom out

Free tools we maintain.

All four are free, no signup. Built and updated by us. Anyone, anytime, in your kitchen or your house or wherever you happen to be.

"Lead is bad" — the primary sources.

Find it. Deal with it. Don't let lead weigh you down.