The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is urging people to not eat, sell or serve certain children’s applesauce pouches sold online and in stores nationwide because some contain high levels of lead, which has been linked to learning, behavioral and cognitive deficits.
The FDA and other health agencies are investigating reports of children with high blood lead levels who appear to have been sickened by apple-cinnamon fruit puree pouches sold under WanaBana, Weis and Schnucks brands.
Testing turned up “extremely high levels of lead,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, and parents are being asked to discard the pouches, which have a long shelf life, if they have them in their home. If their children have eaten the applesauce, the FDA is recommending that parents talk to their healthcare provider about getting a blood lead test.
The pouches are sold through multiple retailers, including Dollar Tree and Amazon, according to the FDA. WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis have initiated voluntary recalls of certain lots of the following products:
— WanaBana brand apple-cinnamon fruit purée pouches
— Schnucks brand cinnamon applesauce pouches
— Weis brand cinnamon applesauce pouches
As of Nov. 22, the WanaBana puree was still on the shelves at several Dollar Tree stores in multiple states.
“This product should not be available and consumers should not purchase this product,” the FDA said.
Lead is toxic, and there is no known safe level of lead in children’s blood. Children are more vulnerable to lead poisoning than adults because their nervous systems are still developing, and they tend to absorb a higher fraction of ingested lead than adults, according to the CDC.
Although children exposed to lead may have no apparent symptoms, even low levels of lead have been shown to negatively affect a child’s intelligence, ability to pay attention and academic achievement. Children exposed to large amounts of lead may develop neurological effects, in addition to abdominal pain, anemia and weakness.
The FDA is still investigating to determine where the contamination originated and whether additional products may also be toxic. The products were manufactured in Ecuador.
As of Nov. 22, the FDA had collected a total of 52 reports of illnesses — among children 4 years old and younger — associated with the applesauce. They came from 25 states: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
The FDA’s leading hypothesis is that the cinnamon used in the recalled pouches is the source of contamination, though as of Nov. 16 the FDA had not yet been able to collect and test samples of the cinnamon used.
“The FDA is continuing to work with Ecuadorian authorities to investigate the source of the cinnamon,” the agency said. While there is no evidence the problem extends beyond the recalled products, the “FDA is screening incoming shipments of cinnamon from multiple countries for lead contamination.”
