This has not generated a mandatory recall at this point, but holy hell, we just went through this!!
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not set lead-level thresholds for spices, but three of the products exceeded a proposed cutoff set by the American Spice Trade Association, and 12 exceeded a more stringent cutoff level set by New York State.
Not sure what I can say about safety, other than why is there no standard set??
Damn it. Anyone know a good home lead testing kit? I use cinnamon in kii-kitten’s daily mixed berry smoothie. It will be less acceptable if I skip it and that smoothie does a lot of heavy lifting nutritionally for our 7 year old.
I get the cinnamon loose from the fancy-pants grocery around here and the supplier isn’t on any of the lists.
The only ones I know of are the ones looking for lead paint, and I suspect that the levels in cinnamon are far below the threshold for that technique. Thought of buying cinnamon sticks and grating them myself. Wouldn’t help if the source is natural accumulation in the tree, but would avoid the risk of adulteration. Otherwise, we are back at the mercy of the supplier. And we know where that leads. It is outrageous that the FDA does not even have a standard for this! Because that would be my preferred safeguard.
Me too. The FDA needs better random sampling programs, some standards for spices, and some teeth in the laws assessing consequences.
The market won’t regulate itself. These companies don’t care if a few hundred children die or are permanently damaged.
OK, so Dr. Beth Mole has done the math, and it’s probably not as bad as I initially thought might be the case.
Real world application of the math you thought you would never need! Dr. Mole saves Christmas.
“Because we sell to other companies who resell, repackage, or use our products as ingredients in other foods, we do not have a list of retail products that contain our recalled items,” BrucePac said in a statement updated October 15.
Depending on the packaging, the products may have establishment numbers 51205 or P-51205 inside or under the USDA mark of inspection. But, for now, consumers’ best chance of determining whether they’ve purchased any of the affected products is to look through a 342-page list of products identified by the US Department of Agriculture so far.
OK, this is, just, wow…
The unorganized document lists fresh and frozen foods sold at common retailers, including 7-Eleven, Aldi, Amazon Fresh, Giant Eagle, Kroger, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, and Wegmans. Affected products carry well-known brand names, such as Atkins, Boston Market, Dole, Fresh Express, Jenny Craig, Michelina’s, Taylor Farms, and stores’ brands, such as Target’s Good & Gather. The recalled products were made between May 31, 2024 and October 8, 2024.
But wait, it gets better!
In the latest update, the USDA noted that some of the recalled products were also distributed to schools, but the agency hasn’t identified the schools that received the products. Restaurants and other institutions also received the products.
That is such a a huge recall! I hope no one gets sick.
So grateful we don’t usually buy anything ready-to-eat and only one frozen meal type with meat in it. I tend to go for vegetarian microwave meals when I eat them at work once a week.
Listeria again. Damn, that’s what, 3 major recalls now? Maybe start looking into WTF is happening?
The way this is going- I’m going to need to buy a home irradiation kit.
More and more of what we eat is grown and processed right here. Not an option for everyone, but definitely helps.
I don’t think they make them. 
The recall involves the medication duloxetine, which is sold under the brand name Cymbalta, according to the FDA’s notice of the voluntary recall, which began Oct. 10.
Makes sense, since the onions are not really cooked. Still sucks, and will get worse before it’s over.
Acme Smoked Fish Corp. said impacted smoked salmon products bear the lot number 8512801270 printed on the front of the packaging. According to a recall notice on Acme’s website, the recalled smoked salmon products were sold only at Costco stores in Florida between Oct. 9 and Oct. 13, when they were removed.
