The cinnamon in your spice rack may contain toxic levels of the metal, health officials have warned.
The FDA believes the lead contamination problem is more widespread than the bags of cinnamon applesauce that were recalled in October.
The agency announced Wednesday that it had sent a letter to all cinnamon manufacturers, processors, distributors and facility operators in the United States to remind them of their responsibility to prevent contamination.
Spices can become contaminated with lead in many ways, including through the soil in which they were planted, old equipment or lead pipes in the facilities where they were processed, or the intentional addition of lead.
He also tested brands of ground cinnamon from discount stores and tested those samples for lead and chromium. Based on its testing, the FDA recommended recalling six brands of ground cinnamon from the market.
Based on its testing, the FDA recommended recalling ground cinnamon from six brands, including Supreme Tradition, sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar.
The brands recalled by the FDA also include La Fiesta, lot 25033, sold at La Superior SuperMercados, and El Chillar, F275EX1026 and D300EX1024, sold at La Joya Morelense in Baltimore, Maryland.
More than 460 young people in 44 states fell ill after consuming bags of cinnamon applesauce contaminated with ‘extremely high’ levels of lead, sold under the brands WanaBana, Schnucks or Weis and flavored with cinnamon imported from Ecuador.
Lead exposure has been shown to seriously harm children’s health, slowing growth and development, and causing damage to the brain and nervous system.
Parents of children poisoned by toxic lead in baby fruit bags have revealed their children are now suffering from speech delays, dark circles and behavioral problems.
Alyssa Magnuson, a 29-year-old Minnesota woman, took her daughter Stevie, then 11 months old, for a routine blood test last fall and was “disbelieving and shocked” when her daughter’s lead levels were higher. 16 times higher. the safe limit.
Doctors also alerted Sarah Callahan, 39, of Maryland, that her 18-month-old son Rudy was showing signs of speech delays. He had been eating WanaBana pouches since that spring.
Callahan told NBC News that when he took Rudy for his annual checkup last year, his blood lead levels were 19.8 micrograms of lead per deciliter. This is more than five times the limit the FDA considers safe.
Alyssa Magnuson (left) told NBC she was “disbelieving and shocked” when her daughter Stevie’s lead levels were more than 16 times higher than the average seen in children.
The brands of ground cinnamon recalled by the FDA are: La Fiesta, sold at La Superior SuperMercados, Marcum, sold at Save A Lot, MTCI, sold at SF Supermarket, Swad, sold at Patel Brothers, Supreme Tradition, sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar and El Chillar, sold at La Joya Morelense in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Removing the ground cinnamon products included in this alert from the market will prevent them from contributing elevated amounts of lead to children’s diets,” the FDA said.
Retailers should stop using them and consumers should throw away any products they have at home, the agency said.
No illnesses or other health effects have been reported in connection with the new ground cinnamon alert, the FDA said.
The level of lead found in the ground cinnamon products was much lower than the amount in some of the bags of cinnamon applesauce, but the FDA said long-term exposure could be harmful.
According to the FDA, the concentration of lead in the ground spice ranged from 2 to 3.4 parts per million.
Meanwhile, lead concentrations found in bags of cinnamon applesauce were thousands of times higher: between about 2,300 parts per million and about 5,100 parts per million.
Most people will not have obvious symptoms of lead exposure at first.
The FDA recommended that people who may have been exposed to high levels of lead talk to a health care provider.
A review of 17 studies found that lead exposure early in life is linked to an increased risk of criminal behavior in adulthood.
The metal is toxic to the body and has been linked to a number of health problems including kidney disease, infertility and delays in mental development.
Dr. Jennifer Sample, a pediatric toxicologist, told the Associated Press that there is no amount of lead exposure that is safe for children and that the effects on brain development can appear years later.
‘It’s irritability. They are behavioral concerns. They are learning difficulties,” she said.
Lead travels in the bloodstream and accumulates in soft tissues, such as the kidneys, liver, and lungs, which over time can cause problems in these organs.
Over time, this can lead to lower IQ, poorer ability to pay attention, and poorer performance in school for children.