Food & Drink / Compounds / Cadmium sulfide

Cadmium sulfide in food: ingestion safety

Moderate risk

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Oral ingestion of cadmium-sulfide pigment material — accidental ingestion of CdS-pigmented art materials, photovoltaic-cell or quantum-dot fragments, ingestion of CdS-contaminated soil/dust — produces moderate-magnitude acute toxicity via gastric Cd²⁺ release in acidic stomach. Chronic dietary ingestion of Cd-bearing food (rice, leafy greens, organ meats) is the dominant general-population exposure pathway, with itai-itai disease cohort as the canonical extreme-cohort outcome. IARC Group 1 + ATSDR oral MRL framework apply.

What is cadmium sulfide?

The IUPAC name is sulfanylidenecadmium.

Also known as: sulfanylidenecadmium, Cadmium sulphide, Cadmium Yellow, Greenockite.

IUPAC name
sulfanylidenecadmium
CAS number
1306-23-6
Molecular formula
CdS
Molecular weight
144.48 g/mol
SMILES
S=[Cd]
PubChem CID
14783

Risk for people

Moderate risk

Oral ingestion of cadmium-sulfide pigment material — accidental ingestion of CdS-pigmented art materials, photovoltaic-cell or quantum-dot fragments, ingestion of CdS-contaminated soil/dust — produces moderate-magnitude acute toxicity via gastric Cd²⁺ release in acidic stomach. Chronic dietary ingestion of Cd-bearing food (rice, leafy greens, organ meats) is the dominant general-population exposure pathway, with itai-itai disease cohort as the canonical extreme-cohort outcome. IARC Group 1 + ATSDR oral MRL framework apply.

Regulatory consensus

2 regulatory and scientific bodies have classified Cadmium sulfide. The classifications differ — that's the data.

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
EPA CTX / Genetox—Genotoxicity: positive (Ames: None, 2 positive / 0 negative reports)
EPA CTX / Genetox—Genotoxicity: positive (Ames: None, 2 positive / 0 negative reports)

Regulators apply different standards of evidence — animal-data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds — which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. The disagreement is the data.

Where you encounter cadmium sulfide

  • Contaminated Water — Mining site runoff, Industrial discharge areas, Drinking water from old infrastructure
  • Soil Contamination — Industrial sites, Smelter areas, Battery recycling facilities
  • Food Chain — Fish from contaminated waters, Shellfish from polluted areas, Crops grown in contaminated soil

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Cadmium sulfide:

  • Mineral-based or plant-derived pigments
    Trade-offs: Narrower color range. May fade faster than synthetic pigments.
    Relative cost: 1.2-2×

Frequently asked questions

Is cadmium sulfide safe for you?

Oral ingestion of cadmium-sulfide pigment material — accidental ingestion of CdS-pigmented art materials, photovoltaic-cell or quantum-dot fragments, ingestion of CdS-contaminated soil/dust — produces moderate-magnitude acute toxicity via gastric Cd²⁺ release in acidic stomach. Chronic dietary ingestion of Cd-bearing food (rice, leafy greens, organ meats) is the dominant general-population exposure pathway, with itai-itai disease cohort as the canonical extreme-cohort outcome. IARC Group 1 + ATSDR oral MRL framework apply.

What products contain cadmium sulfide?

Cadmium sulfide appears in: Mining site runoff (Contaminated water); Industrial discharge areas (Contaminated water); Industrial sites (Soil contamination); Smelter areas (Soil contamination); Fish from contaminated waters (Food chain).

See Cadmium sulfide in the food app

Look up products containing cadmium sulfide, compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

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Sources (7)
  1. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risk to Humans — Cadmium and Cadmium Compounds (1993) — regulatory
  2. ASTM D4236 — Standard Practice for Labeling Art Materials for Chronic Health Hazards (2023) — regulatory
  3. IARC Monographs Volume 100C — Cadmium and Cadmium Compounds (Group 1; cadmium-pigment + battery-electrode + zinc-smelter cohort) (2012) — regulatory
  4. ATSDR Toxicological Profile for Cadmium (2012) — regulatory
  5. NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards — Cadmium and cadmium compounds (CAS 7440-43-9; 'Ca' carcinogen + Skin) (2019) — regulatory
  6. OSHA Cadmium Standard 29 CFR 1910.1027 — substance-specific PEL + medical surveillance (covers CdS pigment industry) (2020) — regulatory
  7. California Prop 65 — Cadmium and cadmium compounds (carcinogen + reproductive toxicant) (1987) — regulatory

Reference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific data; not a substitute for medical, legal, or regulatory advice. Why we built ALETHEIA →