Ground cinnamon sold at discount stores is tainted with lead, FDA warns
Ground cinnamon sold at discount stores is tainted with lead, FDA warns
Ground cinnamon sold in U.S. discount stores is contaminated with high levels of lead and should be discarded. The U.S.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said cinnamon sold by stores including the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar contains lead at levels that could be unsafe for people, particularly children, with prolonged exposure to the spice. The agency urged suppliers to recall the products voluntarily.
Cinnamon products included in the agency’s safety alert include the La Fiesta brand sold by La Superior and SuperMercados; Marcum brand sold by Save A Lot stores; MK brands sold by SF Supermarket; Swad brand sold by Patel Brothers; El Chilar brand sold by La Joya Morelense; and Supreme Tradition brand sold by Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores.
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The US government does broadly limit lead in food products， and the FDA has lead regulations.
Lead contamination in food production has been nearly eliminated since they finally realized it was a problem in the '80s.
https://www.fda.gov/food/environmental-contaminants-food/lead-food-and-foodwares
Where does the AP pull this bullshit from? Of course the US government has enforceable regulations in place on this issue:
https://www.fda.gov/food/environmental-contaminants-food/lead-food-and-foodwares
I imagine lead tainted food is covered by half a dozen other laws.
Because we're barely a functioning country connected to a massive military industrial complex at this point.
There is an FDA acceptable level of rat shit in food.
And it's not fucking zero percent.
I mean, you can't get the levels to zero. Food is grown outside where animals poop, and then the ingredients are stored in warehouses and silos that can't be made entirely impermeable.
No one sets the limit at zero because it's almost impossible to achieve. What everyone does is look at how much is safe and then set a limit well below that.
If you've eaten food from a garden you've eaten food that's about as dirty as anything else the FDA allows.
Way more expensive than the dollar store, but worth it!
Bonus: their official "fuck Republicans" page:
My in-laws got us a gift box from Penzey’s a while back, I’ve been using their sandwich sprinkle seasoning on grilled cheese sandwiches. Shit’s good. 👍
They have this thing called "Pie Spice" that is amazing on hot buttered popcorn.
There's another one called "Mural of Flavor" that makes creamy soups taste like Chicken in a Biscuit crackers. LOL.
People who are already buying their spices at the dollar store aren't going to be buying Penzeys, as good as their spices are.
Why are they getting a chance to recall "volunteer"?
If this is not good for human consumption then it should be removed period.
Our is this because this product will be bought mainly by poor people and fuck them?
The FDA, at this point, doesn't have the personnel or funding to force the recall.
I would imagine I could find lead contaminated cinnamon at any number of stores around here.
I used to live near a penzys, really great spices! And the owners are definitely Democrats!
Jeez its copyright date is a decade behind.
That looks amazing, I'm buying some spices (for my already bursting spice cabinet)!
Fuck all dollar stores and their predatory business models that lead to worse outcomes for the least fortunate.
A perfect microcosm for the failures of capitalism
Agreed. They depressed me as a kid, and they depress me now. Absolutely exploiting the most impoverished among us. Vimes' Boot Theory holds there IMHO: https://terrypratchett.com/explore-discworld/sam-vimes-boots-theory-of-socio-economic-unfairness/
I'm glad stores like that exist overall. Contamination issues can happen at any grocery store. I was just reading about something being recalled from Trader Joe's.
It's not just this, due to the way they make money and the places they target they edge out competitors and exaserbate food deserts while providing nothing to the community.
Wendover Predictions did an excellent video on it: https://youtu.be/vQpUV--2Jao?si=rQIBw2-XZRCWSzy6
Overreacting 101
Chances of that product being pulled from dollar stores, even during a mandatory recall, is practically 0.
The employees at these stores hardly have time to unbox product, let alone get it on the shelves, once it's there the only way it's coming off is when customers pull it.
Yup, John Oliver did a great segment on just how shitty it is to work at a dollar store
I worked a summer in a discount store when I was a teen. Pretty much what he described. The only good part was what we ripped off and smashed in the back after the manager left.
The agency urged suppliers to recall the products voluntarily.
Fuck that, FDA. Why is this optional!?
Once the FDA has determined that the criteria for a mandatory recall have been met, the FDA must first provide the responsible party (as defined in section 417(a)(1) of the FD&C Act) with an opportunity to voluntarily cease distribution and recall the article of food. The FDA will notify the responsible party of this opportunity in writing using an expeditious method of delivery. If the responsible party refuses or does not voluntarily cease distribution and recall the article of food within the time and manner prescribed by the FDA, if so prescribed, the FDA may order the responsible party to cease distributing the article of food, order the responsible party to give notice to certain other persons to cease distributing the article of food, and give the responsible party an opportunity to request an informal hearing2 to be held not later than 2 days after the issuance of the order. After these steps are completed, the FDA may order a recall under section 423(d) of the FD&C Act if it is determined that the removal of the article from commerce is necessary. Only the FDA Commissioner has the authority to order a recall under section 423(d). If necessary, recall orders under section 423(d) shall be vacated by the Commissioner. If the FDA orders a recall under section 423 of the FD&C Act, the FDA will generally follow the process for termination of the recall in accordance with 21 C.F.R. 7.55.
https://www.fda.gov/media/117429/download#:~:text=Section 423 of the FD%26C,the FD%26C Act [21 U.S.C.
Great answer!
Amazing our system allows that much delay though.
It's not.
Yeah, it is. The AP quoted the FDA ...
The agency is also recommending the voluntary recall of certain ground cinnamon products sold by a number of brands at six different retail chains that were found to contain elevated levels of lead. Source
Goddamnit guys, all you had to do was not put lead in the fucking cinnamon.
Understood. Ok guys turn off the lead dispensing machine and turn on the arsenic one!
Expect issues like this to get worse as the disparity in wealth continues to grow.
This is honestly the least surprising thing about Dollar General.
Dollar Tree and Family Dollar are included but not Dollar General. DT and FD are owned by the same parent company if I remember correctly.
how is it that lead is part of the manufacturing process? is it because it tastes sweet?
My understanding from the apple sauce pouch issue that uncovered the source to be cinnamon, is that most of these spices are grown/processed outside the US, and $ is based on weight. So what is an easy way to tip the scales cheaply, lead. 😩
EDIT - here is the FDA write up about it.
Ah lead chromate. So it isn't just to increase weight, it's a colorant. Has a bright orange/yellow color to it. Classic school bus paint.
Ugh, people are awful
As I understand it a lot of countries have a surprising amount of heavy metals in their soil, unfortunately.
Just a plug for buying stick cinnamon. Look for ceylon cinnamon - not as spicy as the cassia variety that most ground cinnamons Are Made From. It smoother and more subtle. You can grind it in batches so it's ready to go and will smell and taste so much better than this lead tainted pre ground crap.
I wouldn't be surprised if the irrigation or the soil is the source of the lead, not the processing methods.
Edit: someone else posted that it was traced to be lead chromate. That's a color that you could paint whole sticks with to make it seem fresher but makes more sense to mix with granulated. Same color often adulterated tumeric
Pretty sure most reports were additives to the ground powder. I have not heard a single case of tainted sticks.
So wait, I can just take cinnamon sticks and put them in a food processor? I love fresh ground coffee, so if it's actually just that easy I'll have to give it a try
I mean, we're all being poisoned daily, what's new? /s
If you ever want to shock a guy out of pollution complacency, let them know that some studies link pollutants to shrinking penis size and reduced fertility. Poisoning me = I sleep. Shrinking penises = real problem.
Microplastics will shrink your weiner too
And studies show that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are often the cause of type 2 diabetes ... more so than diet or weight.
Flint Brand Cinnamon Challenge - if you're dumb enough to try to swallow a spoonful then the lead content isn't going to change much.
Friendly reminder that lead is
sweatsweet and that's why its used as a cheap artificial sweetener.Edit: "eat" -> like in "sweet". "let" -> like in "sweat". English is a bullshit language.
Wonder if there is a simple way to test for this stuff at home.
Eat it and see if you get lead poisoning. If you do, the product may contain lead.
A local hackerspace might have a spectrometer
for food, probably not in a way that wouldnt waste the food. for blood, there are definitely tests
You also waste the blood in blood tests. Anything you test is expected to be gone afterward.
I'd be more surprised if there wasn't Lead in something purchased from a dollar store.
Well, I'm glad to see the FDA sent a sternly worded letter. That'll stop 'em.
They issued a recall recommendation, which basically means all these products will be thrown away by distributors. Looks like the lead contamination was pretty miniscule compared to that applesauce recall from last year, I'm glad the FDA is staying on top of this and taking any amount of lead contamination seriously.
If they’re sending the product to a landfill, the article really buried the lead in this story.
I just responded to another person who basically asked the same thing. They basically ask nicely first, and then they don't ask nicely the second time. As to why this way, legal reasons.