FDA urges recall of lead-tainted cinnamon brands

The Food and Drug Administration is urging consumers to throw away certain brands of cinnamon found to have elevated lead levels, and urging companies to recall the products from store shelves.

The agency conducted tests across the country after at least 460 children were sickened last year by illnesses linked to applesauce bags. These products were contaminated with very high levels of lead from cinnamon processed in Ecuador.

However, the FDA’s latest tests have discovered much lower levels in the cinnamon, 2 to 3 parts per million. In contrast, the cinnamon from Ecuador that made children sick last year contained 2,200 to 5,100 parts per million.

“While we have concerns about these products in the safety alert, they do not pose the same risk to human health as the cinnamon in applesauce and applesauce products,” Conrad Choiniere, an FDA food official, said in a statement. Edition on Wednesday.

Lead is a powerful poison that is especially dangerous for young children and has been linked to learning and behavioral problems and developmental delays. The agency said no illnesses have been reported related to the latest batches of cinnamon, which were singled out for elevated lead levels after testing 75 samples from stores.

The latest batches of cinnamon and applesauce bags were both sold at Dollar Tree stores. The company has said it is committed to the safety of the products it sells. Brands that the FDA has called on companies to remember include Supreme Tradition cinnamon, available exclusively at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores. Other cinnamon varieties with elevated lead levels in the recent tests included the La Fiesta brand sold at La Superior SuperMercados and the Marcum brand sold at Save A Lot.

People who have the products should throw them away, the agency said.

The agency also said this was the case written for makers of cinnamon and encourages them to ensure the safety of their products.

Brian Ronholm, director of food policy for Consumer Reports, which tests baby food for heavy metals, said the agency’s assessment showed it recognized the potential problem.

“It is a positive development and reassuring for consumers,” he said. “It also highlights the need to put a system in place that prevents this kind of thing from happening.”

Last year, cinnamon applesauce bags sold at Dollar Tree and under some private supermarket labels were linked to children having high levels of lead in their blood. The FDA has said it believes cinnamon has been intentionally contaminated with lead chromate powder.

The problem has long been known in the spice industry. The powder is sometimes infused into yellow spices such as turmeric or curry to make the color stand out or to add weight to a product sold by the pound.

The lead-infused cinnamon, made in Ecuador, was mixed into applesauce pouches commonly consumed by babies and toddlers. The FDA ultimately worked with the applesauce maker to recall three million bags and has said it believes this eliminated the contaminated cinnamon from the U.S. food supply.

The Times investigation found that the applesauce passed through numerous checkpoints in the food safety system. The cinnamon was not tested by the applesauce maker in Ecuador, FDA data shows, despite demands from foreign food manufacturers that their products are safe. American importers, who have a duty to inspect foreign food, leave the product on store shelves.

The poisoning occurred when the FDA failed to meet goals set in a landmark food safety law to conduct 19,000 overseas inspections per year. Last year it completed 1,200 such reviews.

The applesauce was most likely consumed by children in 44 states where the average blood lead level was six times higher than the level found during the water crisis caused by lead pipes a decade ago in Flint, Michigan.

Doctors who specialize in caring for children exposed to lead have advised parents to ensure their children are fed diets rich in iron and calcium, which enter the body through the same routes as lead. They also suggest that parents give their children a wide variety of foods so that they are not overexposed to any one item.