U.S. food inspectors found “extremely high” lead levels in cinnamon at a plant in Ecuador that made applesauce pouches tainted with the metal.

U.S. food inspectors found “extremely high” levels of lead in cinnamon at a plant in Ecuador that made applesauce pouches tainted with the metal, the Food and Drug Administration said Monday. The recalled pouches have been linked to dozens of illnesses in U.S. kids.

Cinnamon tested from the plant had lead levels more than 2,000 times higher than a maximum level proposed by the FDA, officials said.

The samples came from ground or powdered cinnamon from Negasmart, an Ecuadorian company that supplied the spice to Austrofoods, which made the pouches. The applesauce pouches were sold under three brands — WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis. Officials with Austrofoods did not respond to requests for comment about the investigation.

  • @TurnItOff_OnAgainEnglish
    23•1 year ago

    Do did the lead come from the machinery used to grind/power it, or from the soil where the trees are grown?

    • @INeedMana
      53•1 year ago

      I guess that, with the source narrowed down to the plant, this is the next question but

      One theory is that the cinnamon may have been contaminated for economic reasons, agency officials said. That could mean an ingredient is added or subtracted from a food to to boost its value. For example, compounds like red brick, red lead salt, lead oxide and lead chromate, which mirror cinnamon’s red color, have been added to increase the value of the spice, research shows.

      and then

      FDA officials said they “cannot take direct action” with Negasmart and are relying on officials in Ecuador for the investigation into the company’s actions. Negasmart does not ship product directly to the U.S. and of Negasmart’s customers, only Austrofoods shipped foods to the U.S., the agency said.

      • @gibmiser
        17•1 year ago

        Our government needs to threaten sanctions if they don’t take real action.

          • @[email protected]
            5•1 year ago

            Fuck anybody involved with adding lead to a food supply. If the other country won’t take action then I’d hope my country will.

          • @GarbanzoEnglish
            2•1 year ago

            That’s just 16 million people who should be motivated to demand a functioning regulatory regime

        • @INeedMana
          -14•1 year ago

          Yeah, and so it becomes political so no-one will ever know the truth

      • @[email protected]English
        7•1 year ago

        eh, economic embargo Ecuador to force them to shut down the plant & root out the corruption in the supply chain

      • @TurnItOff_OnAgainEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        Shoot, I missed half the article! I stopped reading at the “earlier coverage” on the page since I thought it was over.

        Thanks for the extra context.