FDA VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Three applesauce products are being recalled: WanaBana’s Fruit, Cinnamon and Apple Puree Packets, Cinnamon Flavored Applesauce Packets and Assorted Packages with the Schnucks Logo, and Cinnamon Applesauce Packets with Weis Logo. After dinner, packets of applesauce and applesauce.
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration is examining cinnamon imports from several countries for poisonous lead contamination after reports of young people falling ill after eating packets of applesauce and applesauce.
Cinnamon from an Ecuadorian manufacturer is the “likely source” of high levels of lead found in recalled applesauce packages linked to illnesses in at least 34 children in 22 states, the FDA said today.
But the firm noted that no other cases of illness or increased blood lead levels linked to the popular holiday baking spice have been reported.
The company has not yet collected or directly verified samples of cinnamon contained in the product. Import records show that WanaBana LLC of Coral Gs, Florida, won shipments of cinnamon applesauce from Austrofood, an Ecuadorian manufacturer.
A recalled package of WanaBana cinnamon applesauce, collected at a Dollar Tree store, was found to have lead levels more than 200 times higher than what the FDA’s proposed rules would allow, officials said.
The company doesn’t express the grades of heavy metals, such as lead, in spices, said Joanne Slavin, a professor of food science at the University of Minnesota.
Consumers deserve to be aware that cinnamon may contain lead, he said, but the document released today by the FDA says there is no indication that cinnamon products other than applesauce are affected.
“I wouldn’t need to scare other people and tell them that if you put cinnamon in your pumpkin pie, you’re a bad grandma,” she said.
Sachet-related illnesses have been reported in children ages 1 to 3, and at least one child had a blood lead level 8 times higher than the point of concern, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
There is no reason for lead exposure, but the CDC uses a marker of 3. 5 micrograms per deciliter to identify children with levels above most. Blood lead levels of the affected children ranged from 4 to 29 micrograms per deciliter.
The recalled fruit products come with packages of WanaBana Apple Cinnamon Fruit Puree and Schnucks and Weis Cinnamon Applesauce. They were sold on Dollar Tree, Amazon, and other online outlets.
Children who may have eaten those products deserve to be tested for lead levels, fitness officials said. Children who have fallen ill have reported headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and anemia, but have no symptoms.
Exposure to lead can cause serious learning, cognitive, and behavioral problems. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, heavy metals like lead can enter food from soil, air, water, or commercial processes.
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