Lay's Classic

One serving carries about 37 times California's Prop 65 no-significant-risk level for acrylamide (0.2 mcg per day), the threshold Consumer Reports applied at a serving a day. Acrylamide forms whenever starchy food is fried, baked or roasted. At 263 ppb this was the highest acrylamide level of the 14 snacks CR tested for it. It is still under the EU's manufacturing benchmark for potato crisps (750 µg/kg).

Consumer Reports' August 2026 kids' snacks test (acrylamide by LC-MS/MS, J. Agric. Food Chem. 54:7001 (2006)) on three Lay's Classic samples from two to three lots: 263 ppb, which is 7.37 mcg in the 28 g (about 15 chips) serving. CR's reference values: OEHHA NSRL 0.2 mcg/day, MADL 140 mcg/day, EPA reference dose 2 mcg/kg body weight/day.

Glycidyl esters form when vegetable oils are refined at high heat and turn into glycidol in the gut — a probable human carcinogen with no safe intake set by EFSA. One serving is about 2.8 times California's no-significant-risk level for glycidol (0.54 mcg per day), the reference CR applied. At 55 ppb it was lower than Takis Fuego (122 ppb) and Doritos (102 ppb) among the nine chips and crackers CR tested.

Consumer Reports' August 2026 kids' snacks test (glycidyl esters by GC-MS/MS, AOAC 2018.03) on three Lay's Classic samples from two to three lots: 55 ppb, which is 1.53 mcg per 28 g serving. CR's reference value: OEHHA NSRL for glycidol 0.54 mcg/day. The EU caps GE in retail vegetable oils at 1,000 µg/kg as glycidol; the U.S. has no limit.

3-MCPD is a by-product of refining vegetable oil at high heat. EFSA's tolerable daily intake is 2 mcg per kg of body weight — about 46 mcg a day for a 23 kg child — so one serving is about 4% of that. Takis Fuego had the highest 3-MCPD of the chips and crackers CR tested (160 ppb).

Consumer Reports' August 2026 kids' snacks test (3-MCPD by GC-MS/MS, AOAC 2018.03) on three Lay's Classic samples from two to three lots: 63 ppb, which is 1.77 mcg per 28 g serving. Reference: EFSA tolerable daily intake 2 mcg/kg body weight/day (2018).

Not detected — below the laboratory's method detection limit in every sample.

Consumer Reports' August 2026 kids' snacks test (lead by ICP-QQQ-MS, AOAC 2015.01) on three Lay's Classic samples from two to three lots: not detected in any sample.

One serving is about 75% of California's Prop 65 maximum allowable dose for cadmium (4.1 mcg per day). This was the highest cadmium of the nine chips and crackers CR tested. Potatoes take cadmium up from the soil they grow in.

Consumer Reports' August 2026 kids' snacks test (cadmium by ICP-QQQ-MS, AOAC 2015.01) on three Lay's Classic samples from two to three lots: 111 ppb, which is 3.09 mcg per 28 g serving, against the OEHHA MADL of 4.1 mcg/day.

CR ran its inorganic-arsenic follow-up only on the four products with the highest total arsenic, and this was not one of them. Even counted entirely as inorganic, one serving is about 1% of California's no-significant-risk level for inorganic arsenic (10 mcg per day).

Consumer Reports' August 2026 kids' snacks test (total arsenic by ICP-QQQ-MS, AOAC 2015.01) on three Lay's Classic samples from two to three lots: 2.82 ppb, which is 0.1 mcg per 28 g serving; inorganic arsenic was tested only on the four products with the highest totals.

Not detected — below the laboratory's method detection limit in every sample.

Consumer Reports' August 2026 kids' snacks test (mercury by ICP-QQQ-MS, AOAC 2015.01) on three Lay's Classic samples from two to three lots: not detected in any sample.

Not detected — no phthalates were found in any sample. DEHP is a plasticiser that migrates from processing equipment and packaging.

Consumer Reports' August 2026 kids' snacks test (phthalates by GC-MS/MS, GB 5009.271-2016 mod.) on three Lay's Classic samples from two to three lots: DEHP not detected; total phthalates 0 ng per serving.