FDA Alert: Ground Cinnamon from U.S. Discount Stores Contaminated with High Levels of Lead

Federal health officials warned consumers on Wednesday that ground cinnamon sold at stores such as Dollar Tree and Family Dollar were contaminated with lead.

Authorities with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the lead levels in those products posed a danger for people, especially children, who were exposed to the spice for a long time, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

In its alert posted Wednesday, the FDA explained it did product testing to determine the elevated levels of lead:

The FDA is advising consumers to throw away and not to buy these ground cinnamon products. The FDA has recommended that the firms voluntarily recall these products, with the exception of the MTCI cinnamon. The FDA has been unable to reach MTCI to share our findings and request that the company initiate a recall. The FDA will update this notice with the communications from firms that voluntarily agree to recall as we receive them.

The products listed were the La Fiesta brand by La Superior and SuperMercados, the Marcum brand from Save A Lot, MK brands found at SF Supermarket, the Swad brand sold by Patel Brothers, the El Chilar brand sold by La Joya Morelense, and the Supreme Tradition brand found on shelves at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar locations, the AP article said.

An image shows the labels associated with the alert:

“These products have a long shelf life. Consumers should check their homes and discard these products,” the FDA said, adding, “If there’s suspicion that someone has been exposed to elevated levels of lead, talk to your healthcare provider. Most people have no obvious immediate symptoms of lead exposure.”

Conrad Choiniere, Ph.D., who serves as Acting Deputy Center Director for Regulatory Affairs with the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), said, “We’re continuing to work with manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to remove unsafe products from the market, and to further investigate the sources of the contamination.”

He added:

We also just sent a letter to all cinnamon manufacturers, processors, distributors, and facility operators in the U.S. reminding them of the requirement to implement controls to prevent contamination from potential chemical hazards in food, including in ground cinnamon products.

In December, Breitbart News reported a rise in illness possibly linked to lead in cinnamon apple sauce products after the foods were recalled, and the FDA said officials had launched an investigation into the matter.