Is it cinnamon, or lead?

[TBRS1]

If you've been following the news, several brands of children's juice drinks have been recalled due to lead contamination.

The contamination has been traced back to the cinnamon. It appears that some bulk cinnamon retailers have been adding powdered lead to the cinnamon. Lead weighs more and costs less than cinnamon, so they increase profits.

Now I'm worried about the preserves I've made that have cinnamon, and I'm not sure the cinnamon on my shelf is safe.

Does anybody know - Is there a simple test for lead in food, or do I have to get a test kit?

 

[Fino]

If there's lead, the answer would always be both. I doubt it's ever only lead.

 

[Judge]

You might start here. Testing for lead regarding old homes with old leaded paint was commonplace in the late 80s, but finding it in food products is somewhat more recent. Though when it comes to food processing, the potential for so many contaminants is astronomical. Whether organic or man-made.

(I used to underwrite commercial food processing in the insurance industry. Scary things out there back then that will always exist today and tomorrow.)

How to test food for lead? - Chef's Resource

Contents How to test food for lead? Testing food for lead is an essential step in ensuring the safety of ... Read moreHow to test food for lead?

www.chefsresource.com

 

[Mary Terry]

You'd have to get a test kit. It's probably not just cinnamon, either. The particular case you mentioned was a cheap brand of apple juice purchased from Dollar General or other cheap "dollar stores" flavored with cinnamon that was processed in a South American country. Current theory is that the lead was deliberately added to the cinnamon. Beware spices from southeast Asia, too.

 

[Judge]

You'd have to get a test kit. It's probably not just cinnamon, either. The particular case you mentioned was a cheap brand of apple juice purchased from Dollar General or other cheap "dollar stores" flavored with cinnamon that was processed in a South American country. Current theory is that the lead was deliberately added to the cinnamon. Beware spices from southeast Asia, too.

Good point. The gap between foreign food processing and FDA oversight is precarious at best, IMO. Compounded by an industry often searching more for expected or anticipated toxins as opposed to ones wildly contrary to food processing. When it takes injuries or fatalities to make such discoveries.

Then to consider simple negligence relative to other nations and markets with far less consumer oversight, or worse still a very cavalier attitude towards product liability in general.

Another sad example:

Melamine Pet Food Recall Frequently Asked Questions

FDA and USDA continue their investigation of pet food contaminated with melamine, and the feeding of contaminated pet food scraps to hogs and chickens.

www.fda.gov

 

[TBRS1]

Yeah...

I don't normally criticize foreign countries, but food safety and some counties really deserve it.

Now all my foreign imported spices are suspect.

 

[Judge]

Yeah...

I don't normally criticize foreign countries, but food safety and some counties really deserve it.

Now all my foreign imported spices are suspect.

It's why particularly with condiments that I always look for the fine print on the label to see where it came from.

But then I'd be remiss in not warning you of just how outrageously bad some food processing can be that was contained entirely within the good ole USA. And I mean some real horror stories when it came to foreign bodies found in everyday popular food products. Oops.

If people truly knew all the perils of everyday food processing, they'd probably be on a starvation diet or growing their own crops. Or more practically avoiding certain brand names entirely.

 

[Mary Terry]

Good point. The gap between foreign food processing and FDA oversight is precarious at best, IMO. Compounded by an industry often searching more for expected or anticipated toxins as opposed to ones wildly contrary to food processing. When it takes injuries or fatalities to make such discoveries.

Then to consider simple negligence relative to other nations and markets with far less consumer oversight, or worse still a very cavalier attitude towards product liability in general.

Another sad example:

Melamine Pet Food Recall Frequently Asked Questions

FDA and USDA continue their investigation of pet food contaminated with melamine, and the feeding of contaminated pet food scraps to hogs and chickens.

www.fda.gov

These situations occur all the time. The FDA has never received the funding that it has repeatedly requested from Congress in order to do its job, and some politicians want to shrink regulatory authority and funding. Capitalism run amuck! Many times, the victims of adulterated food have no idea how and where they were exposed, and these cases can be extremely difficult to prove in a court of law.

The problem is compounded by Congress' resistance to requiring "country of origin" labeling on food products. I don't want to eat farm-raised catfish from Viet Nam, packaged and labeled as if it was raised in Mississippi! But I do want to eat wild caught salmon and sardines from Norway.

 

[Forest Cat]

There's so much shady stuff going on in the food industry. A lot of money to be made. I read a while ago that 80% of olive oil from Italy is fraudulent. It's low quality, old crappy oil sold as high quality extra virgin olive oil. Organised crime groups makes a lot of money on it because they deal in high volume.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Buy spices from a reputable dealer or with cinnamon, the stick variety that you can grind. I chop it up and run it through the burr grinder that I use for coffee. I enjoy getting cinnamomum verum from Mexico. Not as sweet as most and more herbal.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

These situations occur all the time. The FDA has never received the funding that it has repeatedly requested from Congress in order to do its job, and some politicians want to shrink regulatory authority and funding. Capitalism run amuck! Many times, the victims of adulterated food have no idea how and where they were exposed, and these cases can be extremely difficult to prove in a court of law.

The problem is compounded by Congress' resistance to requiring "country of origin" labeling on food products. I don't want to eat farm-raised catfish from Viet Nam, packaged and labeled as if it was raised in Mississippi! But I do want to eat wild caught salmon and sardines from Norway.

Exactly. Better regulation and good funding is in order. I have seen some pretty shady foods coming out of China. The worse besides the deliberately adulterated foods is Chinese honey. Usually it contains pesticides banned in the US. I get my honey from the local Meadery. The Star Thistle (Spotted Loostrife) honey from them is spicy! I love it. Once I had a swarm of bees land in my yard and called them. An apiarist came and picked the bees up then gave me a nice bit of lemon honey. I will know when they bring their hives back from the south because suddenly thousands of bees visit my pond to fill up on water.

Almost as bad is Chinese garlic. You will see that if you look at the root scar. Since companies cannot import garlic with roots, that area will look like it has been scooped out. But then, I grow my own and do not use store brought garlic.

Here at home it is Sugaring season with the sugar shacks around me busy making maple syrup and sugar.

 

[Aspychata]

Sadly, this is true of anything. So much stuff leeches into the ground, water, our bodies. Even organic spices, food can have unknown unwanted chemicals or pesticides.

 

[Outdated]

Does anybody know - Is there a simple test for lead in food, or do I have to get a test kit?

There is a very simple and cheap test you can try at home. Simply put some in a clear glass and add some White vinegar, then warm it in the microwave. Lead will turn the vinegar black. That's why you need to use white vinegar, so you can see the colour change.

Also try putting white vinegar in a crystal glass and warming it in the microwave, I promise you'll never drink from crystal again.

[Edit] Just thought I should explain my autistic memory. Australia drinks a lot of wine as well as selling a lot over seas. It used to be common for wine bottles to have a lead wrapper over the top of the bottle, but that lead wrapper is now banned in Australia.

Even though it's only on the outside of the bottle, most people would only cut the top off of the wrapper to pull the cork, but leave the neck of the bottle covered. When you tilt the bottle back up as you finish pouring it's common for a few dribbles of wine to run down the neck of the bottle and stay sitting there inside that sleeve, eating in to the lead and waiting to come back out at the next pour.

Back in the 80s there were public awareness adverts here about the dangers of lead and that idea for using white vinegar to test how much lead is in crystal, as well as other things, came from that advertising campaign.

 

[Mary Terry]

Buy spices from a reputable dealer or with cinnamon, the stick variety that you can grind. I chop it up and run it through the burr grinder that I use for coffee. I enjoy getting cinnamomum verum from Mexico. Not as sweet as most and more herbal.

I like the flavor of canela from Mexico. But when I read the news story about lead in cinnamon, I closely examined the packaging for the canela I recently purchased from the local Mexican food store. And there it was - in tiny print - "product of Viet Nam". Now I'm paranoid about using it.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I have a something written up in te1950 on spot testing I"ll make a photo copy and pass it on old school.
great booklet need access to some interesting chemicals including potassium cyanide couple of drops. I have the training and expertise So I will pass it on it he a warning be very careful.

 

[Judge]

Back in the 80s there were public awareness adverts here about the dangers of lead and that idea for using white vinegar to test how much lead is in crystal, as well as other things, came from that advertising campaign.

Back then was that more about the lead content of crystal, or the type of vinegar used in its detection ? I ask given the present concern of vinegar itself. Which apparently has yet to be resolved presently.

"Consequently, there may be pronounced differences in the organic composition of different types of vinegars, including different balsamic vinegars. There may also be large variations in the lead concentrations of different vinegars, based on the origins of the ingredients and the production process. Both of those variables complicate accurate and precise measurements of lead in vinegar."

Lead in Vinegar: Determination and Possible Sources

Exposure to contaminant lead remains a public concern because of its pervasiveness in the environment and increasing evidence of its sublethal toxicities at exposure levels lower than previously thought harmful.

www.americanlaboratory.com

Special Report: Some vinegars - often expensive, aged balsamics - contain a big dose of lead

Consumers want to know if vinegars are safe, but there are no easy answers.

www.ehn.org

Alarming Lead, Arsenic Levels Found in Popular Vinegar Brands

Groups that conducted new round of tests urge the FDA to take action.

www.foodandwaterwatch.org

 

[Mary Terry]

Back then was that more about the lead content of crystal, or the type of vinegar used in its detection ? I ask given the present concern of vinegar itself. Which apparently has yet to be resolved presently.

"Consequently, there may be pronounced differences in the organic composition of different types of vinegars, including different balsamic vinegars. There may also be large variations in the lead concentrations of different vinegars, based on the origins of the ingredients and the production process. Both of those variables complicate accurate and precise measurements of lead in vinegar."

Lead in Vinegar: Determination and Possible Sources

Exposure to contaminant lead remains a public concern because of its pervasiveness in the environment and increasing evidence of its sublethal toxicities at exposure levels lower than previously thought harmful.

www.americanlaboratory.com

Special Report: Some vinegars - often expensive, aged balsamics - contain a big dose of lead

Consumers want to know if vinegars are safe, but there are no easy answers.

www.ehn.org

Alarming Lead, Arsenic Levels Found in Popular Vinegar Brands

Groups that conducted new round of tests urge the FDA to take action.

www.foodandwaterwatch.org

Very interesting, Judge. If you look at arsenic levels in rice grown in the US, you'd never eat it again. I buy Indian or Pakistani rice because it has a much lower level of arsenic.

 

[Judge]

Sadly, this is true of anything. So much stuff leeches into the ground, water, our bodies. Even organic spices, food can have unknown unwanted chemicals or pesticides.

Exactly. Dangerous ground we stand on, let alone the times we're living in.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Need a chemistry lab in home to test food before eating. only thing I was worried about was leaded paint having spent career testing paint. most in fume hood.

 

[Judge]

Very interesting, Judge. If you look at arsenic levels in rice grown in the US, you'd never eat it again. I buy Indian or Pakistani rice because it has a much lower level of arsenic.

Been reading about arsenic lately...but in reference to Napoleon Bonaparte.

Environmental or deliberate act?