Dangerous Amounts of Lead Found in Applesauce
Recently, a health concern has been increasing in Pennsylvania since many children suffered from lead poisoning from cinnamon applesauce brands. About two dozen cases have been reported to the CDC so far. Only about one of those cases is outside of Pennsylvania, the rest are from the state.
The applesauce brands that is being accused of containing the lead is WanaBana, Schnucks, and Weis. The Pennsylvania counties that were affected by this are Allegheny, Cumberland, Chester, Delaware, Erie, Lancaster, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Northumberland, and the city of Philadelphia. The health department will not be reporting the exact number of cases from each county in order to protect the identity of the victims from lead poisoning.
The CDC has gotten reports of 468 cases nationwide. Only 111 of those were actually confirmed. The contamination of lead was found to be from a ground cinnamon processing plant in Ecuador.
This operation has now been shut down. Unfortunately, the FDA has very limited and restricted authority over ingredient products that are not directly shipped to the United States. “This is because their food undergoes further manufacturing/processing prior to export. Thus, the FDA cannot take direct action with Negasmart or Carlos Aguilera.” said the agency. Since Friday, there have been about 413 cases of children having an elevated lead levels in their blood.
A Nationwide Crisis
The elevated levels of lead found in children were from 43 different states. All of these children had consumed some sort of cinnamon applesauce product. FDA also found high levels of chromium. These cases had begun to come in since October of 2023 stating that many children had lead poisoning.
In November, distributor of WanaBana products from the US said the cinnamon was the reason for the lead. After this, all of the apple cinnamon puree pouches were recalled. Other brands are also subject to recall their products. The FDA stated that anyone that consumed these products after the recall, could be exposed to chromium and should talk to their healthcare provider immediately in case of lead poisoning.
The health effects from Chromium are very hard to predict. However, the CDA said no level of lead is ever safe and recommends disposing of any recalled products to avoid getting lead poisoning.
Exposure to this can have serious effects on children such as headaches, stomach aches, vomiting, anemia, irritability, and weight loss. Beside all the information the FDA has on the cause for this outbreak, they believe this could have been intentional.
However, it is not uncommon for spices to be contaminated. “So that’s why I think we frequently hear, maybe on the order of once or twice a month, about a product – for some reason, it’s often turmeric – but a spice that’s contaminated with lead.” said Dr. Diane Calello, a medical director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center.
New Bill Proposed in Pennsylvania
Since this outbreak, a new bill is being proposed in the state of Pennsylvania to make it mandatory for every child to do a lead test. Pennsylvania State Representative Mary Isaacson said the children from there are more likely to be exposed to this than children from other states. Isaacson is going to require every child to get tested between the ages of one and two. This is to make to prevent and catch any health complications from this.
It is important to keep watch of what children eat and to make sure they do not eat any recalled products. Getting lead poisoning can be fatal. To keep children safe is crucial to get them frequently tested for lead poisoning.
Written by Erika Cano
Sources:
6abc: More than 20 lead poisoning cases in Pennsylvania linked to tainted applesauce
PennLive: More than 20 Pa. children suffered lead poisoning linked to tainted applesauce
6abc: New bill proposes testing all Pennsylvania kids for lead
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Peyman Zehtab Farb Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Jess McPhee Flickr Page – Creative Commons License