Cinnamon-flavored applesauce pouches sold in 2023 poisoned hundreds of American children with high lead levels, reports The New York Times. Children in 44 states ate the tainted applesauce.
The FDA, citing Ecuadorean investigators, said that the likely culprit for the contamination was linked to a spice grinder. This led to the recall of three million pouches.
Documents obtained by The New York Times and nonprofit health newsroom The Examination, along with interviews with government and company officials show that the tainted applesauce evaded detection through various food safety checkpoints, exposing a failure of the system.
“It’s amazing in a bad sense what a catastrophic failure this was,” said Neal Fortin, director of the Institute for Food Laws and Regulations at Michigan State University. “Largely, the food supply regulatory system is based on an honor system.”
The cinnamon originated in Sri Lanka and then was shipped to Ecuador where it was ground into a powder. The FDA said that in Ecuador, the cinnamon was likely contaminated with lead chromate. Food importer Austrofood then bought the ground cinnamon and added it to applesauce. The importer did not test the cinnamon or its tainted applesauce before shipping it to the U.S. The company said it relied on a certificate from a supplier saying the cinnamon did not contain lead, according to the report.
The FDA said it had no authority to investigate the entire international supply chain.
“Companies have the responsibility to take steps to assure that the products they manufacture are not contaminated with unsafe levels of heavy metals,” Jim Jones, FDA food official, said in a statement. “The agency’s job is to help the industry comply and hold those who evade these requirements accountable, as appropriate.” Full Story (Subscription Required)