LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Governor Ron DeSantis, First Lady Casey DeSantis, and Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo appeared together on Thursday at Palm Beach State College, unveiling the latest round of the state’s Healthy Florida First food-testing initiative, releasing new findings that show several widely sold bread brands contain high levels of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup.

This marks their latest joint public event, just weeks after unveiling statewide candy testing results that found arsenic in most children-marketed sweets as part of Florida’s expanding Healthy Florida First initiative. Their appearance also follows the Governor’s December visit to Palm Beach County, when he held a press conference at Good Greek Moving & Storage on North Jog Road in West Palm Beach, discussing Florida’s economy, tax concerns, and fiscal management.

Thursday’s press conference began after 3 p.m. inside the Science A (SCA) Building, Room 114, on the Lake Worth Beach campus.

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The initiative, led by the first lady and the surgeon general through the Florida Department of Health, tests popular consumer foods for contaminants to give families data the state says they aren’t getting from federal regulators. Previous testing focused on infant formula and candy; bread is now the third category released to the public.

DeSantis said the program has “been illuminating for a lot of Floridians,” pointing to the state-run website exposingfoodtoxins.com, where the results are posted. The governor said Floridians “have a right to know” what is in the food being sold on store shelves.

In the infant formula testing released earlier this year, the state found elevated levels of several heavy metals — including mercury, arsenic, and lead — in a number of products sampled from major brands. Candy testing also revealed arsenic in multiple items, especially brightly colored candies marketed to children, though the governor noted that several popular chocolate brands tested well.

The First Lady said Thursday’s findings on bread “hit home” because of how often families consume it. She said as she made lunch that morning for her 9-year-old, she was reminded of how much trust parents place in everyday grocery items. She stressed that labels list ingredients, but not contaminants like pesticides or heavy metals. “Consumers deserve to know the truth to make informed decisions,” she said.

Independent lab testing commissioned by the Department of Health found what the state described as “triple-digit” glyphosate levels in several high-volume bread brands, including Nature’s Own Butter Bread, Nature’s Own Perfectly Crafted White, Wonder Bread Classic White, and Sara Lee Honey Wheat. Other breads, including Sara Lee Artesano White and Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse White, showed no detectable glyphosate. Dave’s Killer Bread tested low compared to other brands.

Casey DeSantis called the presence of glyphosate in food “a major disconnect,” noting the chemical is labeled unsafe for ingestion and must be kept away from children. She said the findings reinforce the need for transparency, especially given decadeslong increases in chronic illnesses. “If we really want to improve health outcomes, we have to give prevention the same amount of priority as treatment,” she said.

Dr. Ladapo told the audience that glyphosate exposure “doesn’t seem to have a safe level,” pointing to research showing effects on gut health, the blood–brain barrier, and metabolic function. He said 80 percent of Americans carry measurable glyphosate in their bodies and argued that concerns over its removal from the food system are unfounded. “There’s an alternative to poisoning people,” he said.

The governor said more categories of food will be tested in the coming months, though the state is not yet disclosing which ones. He said Florida is encouraging other states to join the effort to build pressure on federal agencies, particularly the FDA, to act on potential food safety concerns.

The governor closed the event by encouraging Floridians to monitor exposingfoodtoxins.com for the next round of results. “Stay tuned,” he said. “We’re just getting warmed up.”

The Governor, First Lady, and Surgeon General have appeared jointly several times in recent weeks, most notably on January 26 when they announced that 28 of 46 candy products tested by the Florida Department of Health contained detectable arsenic, a finding they said underscored the need for greater transparency in products marketed to children.

During a Q&A, DeSantis also addressed unrelated topics, including allegations involving the First Lady and the Hope Florida initiative. He dismissed them as “a political scam” intended to smear her, saying she had “zero involvement” in the claims raised. He also reiterated his opposition to hyperscale data centers near neighborhoods, saying legislation is coming to protect communities and ratepayers from rising energy costs associated with the facilities.