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1 in 3 cinnamon products have high levels of lead

2024-09-13 22:31:00, Shëndeti CNA

A third of the cinnamon products tested by Consumer Reports contained high levels of lead, the watchdog agency warned Thursday.

The discovery follows concerns about metals in foods after cinnamon applesauce poisoned hundreds of people in 44 states last year, most of them children.

1 in 3 cinnamon products have high levels of lead

In the new study, Consumer Reports tested 36 cinnamon products and found high levels of lead in 12 cinnamon items sold at discount stores and markets. At times, lead levels reached 3.5 parts per million.

Codex Alimentarius, an international council created by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "is considering adopting a maximum level of 2.5 ppm for lead in spices, including cinnamon, in 2024," according to the FDA. .

Consumer Reports advised people to throw away any items containing that amount of lead or more.

Just a quarter teaspoon of any of these products has more lead than you should consume in an entire day, James Rogers, director of food safety research and testing at Consumer Reports.

"If you have one of those products, you should throw it away," he said in a Consumer Reports news release.

"Even small amounts of lead pose a risk because, over time, it can accumulate in the body and remain there for years, seriously damaging health," Rogers added.

But the amounts of lead found in the report were not small, experts noted.

Food safety experts say lead can enter cinnamon bark when the trees are grown in contaminated soil or when the spice is processed with old machinery, the Times reported. Cinnamon is mainly grown in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, the report said, and then shipped around the world.

In the 2023 recall, the FDA said it suspected the cinnamon was intentionally adulterated with lead chromate, a powder used to stretch the product's value and boost profits.

Brian Ronholm, director of food safety policy at Consumer Reports, said the federal government should set a national policy on the amount of lead allowed in herbs and spices, something New York state already does./ CNA





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