A new study by Consumer Reports has found concerning levels of lead in one-third of tested ground cinnamon and cinnamon spice blends, nearly a year after a recall of millions of cinnamon applesauce pouches alarmed consumers around the country.
“I think, if we actually tested more, or tested over time, we might even have found more,” said James Rogers, director of food safety research and testing at Consumer Reports.
There’s no safe amount of lead exposure, health officials say. Prolonged exposures to high levels of lead at a young age can stunt growth, delay puberty and lead to lower IQ levels or learning disabilities.
Although Consumer Reports used a threshold of one part per million to evaluate lead levels, there are no federal guidelines for heavy metals in spices. The Food and Drug Administration has been posting public health alerts regarding cinnamon products that have greater than two parts per million of lead.
What did Consumer Reports find?
The Consumer Reports study included ground cinnamon as well as spice blends, such as five-spice powder and garam masala, purchased online and in 17 stores in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.
Consumer Reports recommended that consumers throw away the 12 products that tested above 1 ppm.
Among the 12 brands that fared the worst in testing, the highest levels of lead were detected in Paras cinnamon powder (3.52 ppm) and EGN cinnamon powder (2.91 ppm).
A distributor for EGN told The Washington Post it has removed the product from stores. A representative for Apna Wholesale, a former distributor of Paras cinnamon powder, said in an email that the company “immediately sent a recall letter” when it learned of the high lead content in the spice. “We also stopped buying or importing any cinnamon powder,” the email said. “We have taken all the necessary steps.”
NAC Foods, which owns Mimi’s Products, said in an email that reports “provided by our vendors” show the company’s ground cinnamon doesn’t have lead levels above one part per million. “Our company’s ground cinnamon products comply with all federal and international law," the company said.
A spokesperson for Wakefern Food Corp. said its products, which include Shoprite’s Bowl & Basket ground cinnamon, have tested “well under” accepted worldwide benchmarks. “The quality of our products is of the utmost importance and our cinnamon meets all safety and quality standards.”
Representatives for Three Rivers and Rani Brand didn’t respond to requests for comment. The Post couldn’t determine contact information for Deep, Zara Foods, Spicy King, Yu Yee Brand and BaiLiFeng.
Laura Shumow, executive director of the American Spice Trade Association (ASTA), said in an email that the U.S. spice industry is “committed to ensuring spices remain safe,” and that the trade group has established guidance levels for metals in spices, including two parts per million for lead.
“The limit of 1 ppm used by Consumer Reports is lower than the levels being used by ASTA, FDA, the European Union and other regulatory authorities,” Shumow said.
Alina Lastra, director of regulatory affairs for Badia Spices, said in a statement that the European Union’s action level for lead in bark spices is based on “extensive scientific studies” and its ground cinnamon “complies with all federal and international law.”
Consumer Reports said that 18 products tested showed relatively low lead levels and were “okay to use.” The testers said six brands with only trace amounts ranging from 0.02 ppm to 0.15 ppm were “best to use.”
John Tillison, director of operations for Penzeys Spices, which had three products in the “okay to use” group, said in an email that raw materials are “tested prior to grinding.” “With all of our spices, if we can get certified metal testing done by a supplier, we will accept that. If not, we have it tested by a certified lab before processing or packaging.”
A spokesman for Amazon, which owns the brand Happy Belly, which was also in the “okay to use” group, said the findings from Consumer Reports show that the company’s products meet current regulatory and industry standards for spices. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Shumow said there’s a difference between trace levels of lead found in spices and “excessive lead levels” that are the result of economically motivated adulteration. After the applesauce pouch recall, the Food and Drug Administration detected up to 5,110 parts per million of lead in cinnamon collected at the manufacturing facility in Ecuador that produced the recalled pouches.
“The levels of lead in the cinnamon used in the tainted applesauce were thousands of times higher than the lead levels in the cinnamon reported in the Consumer Reports article and recent FDA investigation,” Shumow said. “ASTA considers the intentional adulteration of spices the most serious public health threat related to the potential presence of lead in spices.”
A spokesperson for the FDA said in an email that companies are not required to test ingredients or products for heavy metals, but the agency is seeking to change this and require the industry to do so, as well as expand its oversight capabilities.
Asked about the Consumer Reports study, the spokesperson said the agency does not comment on “non-regulatory sample results.”
Should I avoid using cinnamon?
Cinnamon is made from dried shoots of harvested tree bark and is largely grown in Indonesia, Vietnam, China and Sri Lanka.
Lead may be found naturally in soil, but contamination also can occur because of nearby industrial activity, roadways or even volcanic ash.
Some experts say the amount of lead in one serving of cinnamon at the levels detected in the Consumer Reports study wouldn’t typically be of concern to human health. But consistent exposure could pose a risk, especially for those most vulnerable to lead’s harmful effects, including infants and young children.
“It’s a question of how much you’re swallowing, how old the child is, and the concentration, of course,” said Jack Caravanos, a clinical professor of environmental public health sciences at New York University. “If I was advising my daughter feeding her kids, I would say I wouldn’t quite worry about this right now. I would stay with name-brand products, and spices.”
Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, director of the Center for Food Safety at University of Georgia, said the safety threshold for lead — and the difference in risk between 1 ppm or 2 ppm — remains a “gray area.”
