More children were apparently sickened by apple puree pouches recently recalled due to dangerous lead contamination, the Food and Drug Administration said.
The agency has received 52 reports of elevated lead levels among children who reportedly consumed the products, which is up from 34 cases reported last week. The reports span 22 states and involve children between the ages of 1 to 4, according to the FDA’s online update on the investigation.
The pouches were marketed to parents and children under three brands: WanaBana apple cinnamon fruit puree and Schnucks and Weis cinnamon applesauce pouches. They were sold by national grocery chains, including Dollar Tree, and online retailers such as Amazon.
The FDA said it is still working with Dollar Tree to get the recalled products off of shelves in several states.
How does lead get into cinnamon? If it’s intentional, it seems like a pretty risky way to cut costs.
I’m reminded of the melamine that was added to dog food to boost protein numbers. It killed and harmed many pets in the US. Who in the world would expect melamine in dog food but here we are.
The melamine was put into the pet food to falsely boost the protein content if I recall correctly. My guess with the cinnamon is that it’s a containment from processing.
They added it to baby formula too in 2008.
Melamine, what won’t kill?
Pollution local to the cinnamon farm.
This was my first thought, as well. Pretty much nobody is dumb enough to use lead for any machinery used in food processing, so it’s likely contaminated soil where the cinnamon trees are grown.
Which is extra concerning, because these juices aren’t likely the only products affected by this. The farm this cinnamon was grown from likely supplies dozens, if not hundreds, of food producers across the planet with their product. Hopefully this can be contained.
I’m almost certain that this is what it is, too.
I haven’t eaten any dark chocolate since I found out about how bad the levels of lead and cadmium are. Some dark chocolates are ok, but I don’t love it enough to remember which brands they are. I think most of the other types of chocolate were ok (by today’s standards) though.
If you’re curious: https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/a-third-of-chocolate-products-are-high-in-heavy-metals-a4844566398/
The second link is as recent as October, this year.
I got into a discussion on Lemmy a while back about cadmium and lead in chocolate and someone linked a study stating that some of the lead contamination can come from leaded gasoline fumes during transportation. May be a contributing factor in this case as well.
Probably red lead used to disguise low-quality cinnamon.
That would need to be a lot of lead in the cinnamon with the little bit of cinnamon that is in the fruit juices
Heavy metals like lead accumulate in the body, so exposure over time is a concern too.
In the US, childhood lead poisoning cases are opened by public health investigators when the kid’s blood lead level is reported over 3.5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. That’s not much - and if the kid’s eating contaminated food everyday for multiple sittings, I can see how it can accumulate over that threshold quickly.
For example, lead contaminated soil is considered a hazard if measured to have over 400 ppm lead. For things actually meant to be eaten, a fraction of that ppm is all it takes.