The FDA is screening US cinnamon imports after more kids are sickened by lead-tainted applesauce

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 1:06 PM EST, November 17, 2023


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is screening imports of cinnamon from multiple countries for toxic lead contamination after growing reports of children who were sickened after eating pouches of applesauce and apple puree.

Cinnamon from a manufacturer in Ecuador is the “likely source” of high levels of lead found in recalled pouches of applesauce puree linked to illnesses in at least 34 children in 22 states, the FDA said Friday.

But the agency noted there have not been other reports of illness or elevated blood lead levels tied to the spice that’s popular in holiday baking.

The agency has not yet been able to collect and directly test samples of the cinnamon in the product. Import records show that WanaBana LLC of Coral Gables, Florida, received shipments of cinnamon apple fruit puree from Austrofood, a manufacturer in Ecuador.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wanabana-lead-poisoning-cinnamon-fruit-pouch-fda-736695be83554147723147759cb7ddae

[HighFired49]

1. Test all imported spices

All imported spices should be tested for lead at some point, either at import, during the repackaging, or manufacturing of other foods. Unscrupulous growers or wholesalers will add lead to increase the weight of otherwise very light spices to get more money for less spice. Lead is a lot heavier than any spice.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Nowhere near enough resources to do that

and you know how the GOP wants to shrink the government so much that it "drowns in a bathtub".

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Spice contam w lead weighs same as pure spice. Can't detect by weight

The levels of contamination are serious but low. You can't detect it by weight.

FDA has set an action level of 0.5 micro-g/dL for lead in in food products intended for use by infants and children

That's 5 micrograms per liter. I read that contamination was 10x allowable levels. Even if it were 100x, that would be 500 microgram per liter. Half a milligram. 1/2000 of a gram. 1/60,000 of an ounce. That is one part in 2,000,000 at 100x allowable levels.

Suppose a packet of apple sauce is 200 grams (about half pound, about 7 ounces) and has 100x. That would be 100 micrograms, 0.1 milligrams.

a single 6-inch long piece of hair would weigh between 0.000076 to 0.00013 ounces. Put another way, it would take about 7,900 to 13,000 hairs to make one ounce.

That is about 10,000 hairs in 30 grams or about 3 milligrams per 6 inch hair.

So a 200 g packet contaminated 100x might weigh an extra weight of about as much as one quarter inch of one hair.

220 pounds of apple sauce (100 kg = 100,000 g), approximately 100 liters or 25 gallons, at 100x contamination would weigh an extra 50 milligrams, about 1/500 of an ounce. A grain of rice weighs about 20 milligrams. So you would have to be able to detect three extra grains of rice weight in 220 pounds. But such accurate weighing is only practical in perfect conditions in advanced scientific laboratories. Remember it is one part in two million at 100x. At 10x it would be one part in 20 million.

[HighFired49]

11. Lead testing is done by chemical reaction.

Thanks for all of the information, Bernardo, but I wasn't suggesting that testing for lead be done by weighing a product. Lead detection in and on various products and surfaces is done by a chemical application. My reference to weight was to say that unscrupulous sellers will add lead powder to very light weight products, i.e. spices, to get more for their product. Lead is much heavier than any spice, and much cheaper. Some sellers will add it to spices to increase the weight and substitute cheaper lead for the much lighter more expensive spice. Thanks again. Peace!

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Years ago, I used to test for it with AA spectroscopy (for quantitative)

although I know that has been replaced with other spectroscopy methods including xray-fluorescense.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. XRF Has Been Used For Heavy Metals For Years

Bruker makes a portable handheld model that quantitates to single digit ppb.
Requires no flame of arc source to create a plasma. Only weighs about 6#.
My first ever professional job involved using AA, XRF, & XRD. The XRF was the size of a small refrigerator. Now, they way 6 pounds & would fit in a beer cooler!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Probably hellaciously expensive, ... but

... I've been anticipating for some time that units like that might eventually -- or perhaps sooner than later -- will be a standard kitchen appliance for in-home food testing.

Could be a business opportunity.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. Yeah we had AA, AE, ICP for metals

although I remember doing a pain in the butt old AOAC heavy metals prep (I think we had to ash the stuff in a muffle furnace before diluting back up again), but that has obviously been updated over the years.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. Did Those, Too

Platinum or tantalum crucible.
We had the crucibles locked in a safe. Only I & my boss knew the combination, so if they were kissing only 2 people could have stolen them. I really protected that combination!

[BumRushDaShow]

25. LOL!!!

We had one of those huge old 1940s-era safes where we kept the platinum boats for the micro-scales, calibration weights for all the scales, plus any of the class II drug standards, etc.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. I think quantitative analysis is by mass spectrometer these days, esp for minute quantities.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. See My Post #18

I'd bet $20 that XRF is used. The instruments are way cheaper & still very accurate.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. When you are in a gubmint lab

a MS was hard to come by.

We did have a couple labs with a GC-MS and we did have a ICP-MS (with 1 person allowed to operate it).

[markodochartaigh]

9. Imported turmeric often is colored with lead chromate.

Lead is linked to developmental and neurological conditions in children and high blood pressure, kidney problems and reproductive problems and bone problems in adults. Chromium is carcinogenic and can cause kidney problems.

If you have a garden in horticultural zone 8 and above turmeric is very easy to grow.

[ZonkerHarris]

2. Also, maybe don't eat anything in a pouch

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Or anything that is pre-packaged.

Don't buy the packaged salad mixes at the grocery store. Buy the separate ingredients. Don't buy frozen chicken tenders. Buy fresh chicken and make your own.

Cooking is both not difficult, and doesn't take that long. In the time it takes to microwave something frozen, you can make that food from fresh. Yes, you can.

A while back I started watching 30 minute meals with Rachel Ray. I found them fascinating, and one time she had a meal that looked very appealing a Chicken Tagine, and I decided to try it. I'd assumed that the 30 minutes was simply the length of the show, and that there would be various cuts, and that the cooking/preparing time would be a bit longer. Well. Imagine my surprise when I fixed the Chicken Tagine according to her instructions and it was done in a bit under 30 minutes. Wow.

[murielm99]

10. Applesauce is very easy to prepare.

Why buy it in a jar?

There are times I make my own, put it in a freezer bag and store it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. Excellent.

I'm not much of an applesauce person, but you make my point perfectly. Cooking or preparing food to eat is simply not as time-consuming or difficult as people have been led to believe. Plus, it's vastly cheaper to fix your own meals.

I live alone. I often cook things in volume so that I can freeze individual portions for myself. I recently made a beef barley soup, starting with leftover pot roast. Wonderful.

I have a chicken soup I call Chicken of Muchness, and it makes a lot that I can also freeze.

Next week I plan to make a chicken curry and will be freezing at least four portions, maybe more.

Done this way, the individual meals work out to $3.00 a serving, often less.

My current food costs are less than ever. It helps that I'm already on a very limited budget, and so I pay attention to costs, and what I make.

[murielm99]

17. Chicken of Muchness.

That's funny.

When I was 27, I was widowed. I lived alone for several years. I had to be careful about eating properly and at regular intervals. I made a soup called Cream of Everything. It was basically a chicken soup. I have not thought about that in years.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. Here's my Chicken of Muchness recipe.

Chicken of Muchness

2 chicken leg quarters
3 or 4 carrots
One can each of diced and crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion
3 or 4 cups of chicken broth
3 bay leaves
3 cinnammon sticks
½ to ¾ tsp each of celery salt, marjoram, thyme, basil, and tarragon
olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour

Bring the chicken to a boil with just enough water to cover. Turn heat down to simmer and skim off scum and fat that comes to the surface. This will take ten to fifteen minutes.

Once skimming is done, put the bay leaves, peeled carrots, and cinnamon sticks in pot with chicken, cover and let simmer for an hour.

Remove carrots and chicken. Let them cool while you sauté the sliced onion in a little olive oil. You want it to get a little brown. Put in soup pot. Add the tomatoes.

Make a roux with the butter and flour in that same pan, then add a cup or two of broth. Stir and let it thicken over the heat until it seems thick enough. Pour into pot.

Cut up the carrots, strip the chicken from the bones and return to soup pot. Now add the other seasonings. You will probably need to add more chicken broth to have the right amount of liquid.

Cover and simmer for an hour or so.

Make rice, which takes about 20 minutes, when you’re ready to eat. Put rice in a bowl, then add the chicken of muchness. Ground pepper and some salt and enjoy!

[murielm99]

26. Thank you.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

29. No, it's not difficult to cook

But it's not helpful to shame people about not doing it when we don't know their food situation.

You're apparently privileged enough to live in a place with full-service grocers nearby. You're privileged enough to have the money to buy what they sell. You're privileged enough to afford to live in a place with a bloody kitchen for cooking those meals--and to have the necessary appliances and utensils to cook often.

Not everyone is so fortunate. That's why it's rude to assert that 'cooking' is easy. Because it's only easy for those privileged enough to have the means to have it be easy.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

27. Packaged salad is as safe as the ingredients you buy

And it's less wasteful for 1-2 person households than buying the individual ingredients. My husband and I don't buy the individual ingredients for salad because they go to waste before we can eat them all. Even if we had salad 3X a day, we can't eat it all.

It's a far bigger sin to throw food away than it is to buy a packaged salad that a) gets eaten and b) isn't as danger-ridden as food purists pretend.

Welcome to reality.

[sybylla]

14. Congrats on being able to do that.

But that’s some pretty disturbing ableist talk.

[ZonkerHarris]

15. Judgemental for the win.

You're not as good at it as you think.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

28. You first, mate

But do preach louder to people whose situations you haven't the faintest clue about.

[PSPS]

5. We weren't already inspecting imports? Saint ronnie neutered the FDA.

[tonekat]

6. But they save money buying crap.

Profit over people!

[Grins]

8. And N.B.: Republicans want to destroy the FDA.

And they haven’t made that a secret. All part of the Reich’s “deconstruction of the administrative state.”

And they makes no bones about it.