The tainted applesauce might have gone unnoticed for even longer if it weren’t for one family in North Carolina.
Early last summer, Nicole Peterson and Thomas Duong were concerned about their young children’s blood lead levels during a routine test. Within weeks, levels had doubled.
Ms Peterson said the couple worked with the local health department as they tried to determine what could have harmed their children. “We haven’t been sleeping and we haven’t been eating – because it’s driving us crazy,” Ms Peterson said. She and her husband are suing Dollar Tree, where they bought the applesauce, and WanaBana, a U.S. distributor led by Austrofood officers.
A Dollar Tree spokeswoman said the company is committed to the safety of the products it sells. Austrofood said it relied on its supplier’s certification and that none of its other products have been recalled.
Their 3-year-old daughter, a feisty, bright girl who loves swirly dresses and nail polish, had a blood lead level of 24 micrograms per deciliter, nearly seven times the CDC’s level of concern. Her younger brother, a laid-back toddler who loves loud trucks and dance music, had reached level 21.
Public health investigators searched their home and daycare, but were unable to find the source. When the parents’ blood tests came back normal, they began to suspect a food that only the children ate: foil packets of cinnamon applesauce.
North Carolina health officials tested them and found extremely high levels of lead.
This prompted the FDA to act.
Search for the Source
At the end of October, Austrofood recalled millions of bags of apples. The FDA said it believes this measure has eliminated the tainted cinnamon from the US food supply.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 400 infants and toddlers were poisoned. The average test result was six times the level found in the water crisis caused by lead pipes a decade ago in Flint, Mich.
The exposure in Flint was more sustained, and its long-term effects have proven difficult to quantify. But years later, the number of students in the city who qualified for special education doubled.
Earlier this month, the FDA said Ecuadorian investigators believe the cinnamon was likely contaminated by Carlos Aguilera, who ran a spice mill. Ecuador’s health agency filed an administrative complaint against Mr. Aguilera, saying he had operated without a license and was using broken machinery that increased the risk of contamination, according to records. The complaint is pending.
Ecuadorian officials took packaged cinnamon from Mr. Aguilera’s customers that tested positive for lead, according to inspection reports and interviews.
But investigators found no tainted cinnamon at Mr. Aguilera’s plant, the records show. In an interview with reporters, he denied adding chromic lead.
Austrofood is not specifically required to test its products for lead. Under FDA regulations, companies only need to identify potential food safety risks and develop plans to address them.
Austrofood had a plan, but lead was not among its anticipated risks, according to FDA records.
After the lead poisoning, the FDA cited Austrofood for failing to identify lead as a hazard, according to agency records.
