Heavy Metal Source in Kiddy Food Poisonings Identified

Lead Chromate

Ars Technica Chromium found in lead-tainted fruit pouches may explain contamination

The Food and Drug Administration has discovered a second metal contaminant—chromium—in the recalled cinnamon applesauce pouches found to contain cinnamon contaminated with extremely high levels of lead. The products have now poisoned nearly 300 young children in 37 states.

The health implications of the additional contaminant are not clear. There is no antidote for chromium exposure, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends supportive care. But the finding does hint at the possible motivation behind the tragic poisonings.

In the FDA's announcement, the agency noted that "The lead-to-chromium ratio in the cinnamon apple puree sample is consistent with that of lead chromate (PbCrO4)." This is a notorious adulterant of spices used to artificially bolster their color and weight.

Lead chromate is a vibrant yellow substance that has frequently turned up in turmeric sourced from India and Bangladesh. In a 2017 study by public health researchers at Boston University, 16 of 32 turmeric products bought in markets in the Boston area had lead levels over the FDA's allowable lead level for candy (the FDA does not have guidelines for lead levels in spices, specifically). Two samples, the only two samples sourced from Bangladesh, exceeded the allowable lead level by two orders of magnitude. The researchers had conducted the study after a string of lead poisoning cases in US children were linked to contaminated spices, including turmeric. Other studies have also identified spices as a source of lead exposure in US children.

Turmeric

 

The 2017 study highlighted the reason that lead chromate is used as an adulterant. A media outlet in Bangladesh quoted one turmeric trader's explanation: “Traders use the artificial color [lead chromate] to hide the marks of pest attacks and other spots on raw turmeric. It is used during boiling and polishing to make the spice look brighter to attract big buyers, including spice processing firms."

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The FDA's testing does not definitively conclude that lead chromate was in the contaminated cinnamon, which was sourced from an Austrofoods manufacturing facility in Ecuador and used in the recalled applesauce pouches. But it does bolster the FDA's suspicion that the poisonings were the result of "economically motivated adulteration," a specific category of food fraud defined by the FDA.

It seems that lead chromate is widely used internationally to give that nice turmeric color. Another reason to avoid foodstuffs processed abroad. Anyone knowingly involved in putting the lead chromate into children's food should be indicted, and brought to the US for trial, if possible.