The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this week that it had begun screening incoming cinnamon shipments from multiple countries in the wake of 34 reports of lead poisoning linked to pouches of cinnamon-flavored applesauce. After North Carolina authorities first raised concerns about the link between applesauce and lead poisoning when investigating cases of lead poisoning in the state, the FDA has ramped up its investigation in recent weeks.
There are now 22 cases associated with the pouches, which were sold nationwide under the now-recalled WanaBana, Weis, and Schnucks brands. A rising number of cases linked to recalled applesauce pouches has prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to warn testing laboratories nationwide to prepare for a potential surge of lead testing requests.
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Currently, the FDA is attributing the elevated levels of lead to cinnamon used in the apple puree production process. Other fruit puree products are unrecalled because they do not contain toxic lead levels. Samples collected from WanaBana Apple Cinnamon Puree products sold at Dollar Tree tested positive for high levels of lead, more than 200 times higher than the standards set for products intended for babies and children by the FDA, the agency said.
An FDA table shows that onsite inspections are now in progress, along with an effort to trace back the ingredients responsible for the poisonings. Previously, Schnuck Markets blamed the recall on “cinnamon raw material” from Ecuador-based Austrofood, WanaBana’s parent company.
The FDA, however, has yet to obtain samples of the cinnamon used in the recalled products for testing and is still working with Ecuadorian authorities to identify the source. Despite no other reports of cinnamon-related lead poisonings, the FDA said it would begin screening cinnamon imports “to further protect public health.”
“This is a very high priority for us and we are investigating aggressively. I hope we have our arms around this,” Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, said at an event organized by the Alliance for a Stronger FDA on Monday. It is possible that other foods on the market may have also used lead-contaminated ingredients, according to Jones.
“Our ability to be 100% confident around exactly where it is, that’s just a lot of leg work and investigative work and partnering, and we’re trying to do all those things, and hoping we can get this thing wrapped up quickly, meaning out of the food supply,” said Jones. A CDC alert on Monday said children as young as 1 to 3 years old tested had blood lead levels up to 29 micrograms per deciliter after eating the applesauce.
If doctors encounter these levels, the CDC advises them to contact specialists or poison control centers and arrange for an investigation. Headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and changes in activity level were among the symptoms reported by children.
“Although children with lead exposure may have no apparent acute symptoms, even low levels of lead have been associated with learning, behavioral, and cognitive deficits,” the CDC said in its alert, advising parents to test their children for lead poisoning if they purchased the recalled pouches.
