Tainted cinnamon applesauce pouches that have sickened scores of children in the U.S. may have been purposefully contaminated with lead, according to FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones.
“We’re still in the midst of our investigation. But so far all of the signals we’re getting lead to an intentional act on the part of someone in the supply chain and we’re trying to sort of figure that out,” Jones said in an exclusive interview. The pouches found to be contaminated were sold under three brands — Weis, WanaBana and Schnucks — that are all linked to a manufacturing facility in Ecuador. The FDA says it’s conducting an inspection of that facility.
“My instinct is they didn’t think this product was going to end up in a country with a robust regulatory process,” Jones said. “They thought it was going to end up in places that did not have the ability to detect something like this.”
This is where those US based companies should get absolutely reamed. Want to profit off cheap labor and raw materials from developing countries with “lax” controls? Then you should face all consequences and lost profits. No “blaming” some other supplier.
China executed mfers when companies sold tainted baby milk powder.
I’m not a huge fan of China, but I’ll admit they’re doing at least one thing right.
Lead is sweet. That’s why kids eat paint chips.
Someone saved money on sugar and biocide.
The reason why I tacked this on after your comment is that you are on to something.
Sugar is way too cheap to use lead these days. 100 years ago this would have been plausible to me, but not today.
Lead is used as a plastic softener, and these packages were likely not rated for food usage and whoever bought them online hadn’t checked for FDA approval for food safety before purchasing. It could have been something as simple as someone accidentally using the wrong materials in the factory too.
I thought the lead was in the cinnamon used?
Oh yeah, I do remember hearing that. Still might be the packaging for whatever they ship the cinnamon in, but I do know that plants can also take up heavy metals in the soil, so multiple possible avenues for contamination. I’m sure the fda will figure it out.
Makes me wonder how much lead will flow into humans now that lead fuel is forbidden everywhere but lead food packaging is on the rise
Leaded fuel is forbidden for ground vehicles. It is still legal in airplane fuel.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/20/aviation-lead-fuel-00081641
We have a lot more work to do.
“Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point”
How about jailing responsible execs? Money wrist slaps notoriously don’t do shit
Keep increasing the penalty until it actually has an effect.
Even if it never changes their behavior, all the free money can be used for other things until they go out of business.
There should be a tiered system, too. First offenders just have to pay a certain amount to cover all expenses and then some. Subsequent offenders should have to pay more, probably double at the minimum.
Just like how insurers increase rates when we use their services, taxpayers should increase rates for businesses that use their services.
Miniscule fine incoming…
Price of business