Food items served to school kids in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., contained heavy metals, including lead, and roughly 50 pesticides, according to new testing commissioned by Spotlight on America.

The Health Research Institute (HRI), an accredited independent lab in Iowa, conducted the testing. HRI's Chief Scientist and CEO John Fagan told The Defender, "We tested every part of the lunch … it was pretty shocking."

Nearly 30 million U.S. kids eat school lunch every day, according to the School Nutrition Association.

Fagan's lab identified 49 pesticides — listed at the end of this article — with 38 different pesticides detected in just one elementary school lunch. Among them was carbendazim, a fungicide banned in most European countries that can cause infertility and endocrine disruption.

Many wheat-based items contained the weedkiller glyphosate, commonly marketed as Roundup, which causes cancer and disrupts immune function.

A single strawberry cup contained 23 pesticides, Spotlight on America reported.

Fagan's lab also found numerous heavy metals in the samples. According to the Cleveland Clinic, exposure to heavy metals can cause irreversible damage to the human body, and may even be life-threatening.

Lead — which "at any level is harmful to children's IQ," Fagan said — was found in 100% of the samples.

Some samples contained cadmium, a heavy metal known to increase the risk of lung cancer, at a level 12 times higher than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) limit for bottled water, according to Spotlight on America.

The lab also found arsenic in rice at levels 6 times higher than what's allowed in apple juice, Spotlight on America said.

Fagan said, "The children need our help and protection."

Zen Honeycutt — founder and executive director of Moms Across America, a nonprofit representing hundreds of thousands of mothers who want safer food served to their kids — agreed.