News Summary

• Tests of cinnamon samples collected during a US Food and Drug Administration inspection of a facility in Ecuador linked with contaminated applesauce pouches turned up lead levels that were more than 2,000 times higher than proposed standards, the agency said Monday..
• Lead contamination in applesauce pouches may have been ‘intentional act,’ FDA official tells Politico During a recent FDA inspection of an Austrofood facility in Ecuador, investigators took samples of cinnamon that were supplied by another company, Negasmart..
• “For context, the international standard-setting body, Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) is considering adopting a maximum level of 2.5 ppm for lead in bark spices, including cinnamon, in 2024.” That inspection is over, and testing did not turn up any other products that should be recalled, the FDA says..
• But it’s still looking into whether this cinnamon may have been used in other products that have come into the US, and increased screening of some imported cinnamon products remains in place..
• The samples had “extremely high levels of lead contamination, 5110 parts per million (ppm) and 2270 ppm,” the agency said in an update Monday..
• The agency says there have been at least 69 reports of illnesses – all in children under 6 – linked to pouches sold under the WanaBana, Weis and Schnucks brands, and those products have been recalled..