Lead has been found in hundreds of cinnamon applesauce pouches, sickening dozens of children under the age of 6 years old with lead toxicity. The immediate symptoms of lead poisoning are vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, and even anemia. Jim Jones, FDA’s (Food and Drug Administration) deputy commissioner for human foods suggests that this lead-tainted applesauce was an “intentional act.”
Within the first few weeks of December, the FDA has confirmed that there have been more than 65 reports of illnesses linked to applesauce manufactured by WanaBana, Weis, and Schnucks Brands. These brands were linked back to a facility located in Ecuador.
Dr. Diane Calello, the executive and medical director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center, claims that contaminated spices are “incredibly common" because potential contamination occurs in natural processes. For example, rice and apples are grown in soil that contains metals.
But as the FDA continues to investigate how traces of lead were found in these cinnamon applesauce pouches, they suspect that the contamination was “economically motivated.” This means that because products are typically sold by weight, manufacturers will try their best to maximize the value of their products--no matter the cost. In this case, officials suspect that lead was intentionally added to the applesauce to increase the weight of the product, while simultaneously allowing companies to produce a cheaper item at a raised price.
Even the tiniest amount of lead is toxic to humans--why put our children at risk for the benefit of big businesses and corporations? Is this an act of greed and selfishness? How can these businesses make up for the damage they have done?
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18 comments:
As an applesauce enjoyer, this post is quite concerning. Not only is applesauce a common baby food, but it is also widely enjoyed by all types of people - making this contamination very real and very concerning. According to this article, I found regarding the concerns of maximizing applesauce turnout and profit, it does seem that intentional contamination could be true. In addition to what we learned in class about interest groups, I believe the FDA ( an immunology interest group ) has or is doing its best to act against this threat.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/lead-contamination-applesauce-pouches-may-intentional-fda-says-rcna130044
If intentional, this is truly immoral. Under no circumstance should companies sacrifice the health of kids for profit. It's very concerning that the higher-ups of the company would actually agree to such a move (or maybe they thought there would be less drastic health implications?). But at the same time, I do feel like there is some substance to this not being intentional. Putting lead in children's food to potentially make more money is extremely risky for the companies considering the regulation by the FDA on food products, massive health risks, subsequent lawsuits, and probable decrease and sales and therefore loss of profit. But who knows if these companies will tell the truth when pushed.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are further investigations into other food companies following this discovery. Companies will often substitute natural ingredients for artificial ones to save money; which sometimes results in the food becoming unsafe/unhealthy for consumers. While I am often opposed to excessive regulations imposed by the government, food, drink, and pharmaceutical safety for consumers is a must. Even if its a tiny amount of lead, its still extremely dangerous and must be removed to all future products.
Even if the lead wasn't added intentionally, this situation still highlights the immoral values of the higher ups of these companies. Their neglect to test their products is pretty shitty and even if the production of the apple sauce was outsourced, it is still their responsibility to ensure that they aren't poisoning people. The investigations have been ongoing since October of this year, yet people are only just hearing about it now, which is a little scary to me. Lead poisoning is serious and something that shouldn't be worried about in this day and age, but this serves as a reminder to not take uncontaminated food for granted, especially with food sourced from countries where food health and safety standards may not be up to speed with ours.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/lead-contamination-applesauce-pouches-may-intentional-fda-says-rcna130044
It is really upsetting to think that these brands are putting the health of many young children at risk. I hope to give them the brands the benefit of the doubt, but the suspicion that this might have been on purpose is disgusting to think about. While it seems like Wanabana and Austrofood are sold through many prominent retailers such as Amazon and Dollar Tree, GoGo Squeez seems to be remain the brand name apple sauce. While the government promotes competition between businesses through antitrust laws, at what point does it go too far? It surprises me that businesses are allegedly poisoning people in order to gain profit, and I am glad that it got reported and is now being investigated.
https://www.justice.gov/atr/antitrust-laws-and-you#:~:text=Other%20agreements%20such%20as%20exclusive,market%20for%20products%20or%20services.
https://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2023/lead110323.html#:~:text=WanaBana%20apple%20cinnamon%20fruit%20puree%20pouches%20are%20sold%20nationally%20and,Club%2C%20Amazon%20and%20Dollar%20Tree.
It is disturbing to know that there is a possibility that this was an intentional act for the purpose of economic benefit. Apple sauce is primarily consumed by children and lead poisoning not only has short-term illness but can also have long-term effects. According to the CDC, lead exposure can cause stunted growth, learning problems, speech and hearing problems, and brain damage. Additionally, according to WHO lead poisoning also causes a heightened risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular and kidney problems. If a pregnant woman is exposed she has a high risk of miscarrying or having a child with birth defects. Lead poisoning can cause detrimental damage to a person's life so it is absolutely unethical if lead poisoning is being risked solely for monetary gain.
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/health-effects.htm#:~:text=Protecting%20children%20from%20exposure%20to,pay%20attention%2C%20and%20academic%20achievement.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health#:~:text=Lead%20also%20causes%20long%2Dterm,birth%20and%20low%20birth%20weight.
I agree with everyone's sentiments, intentionally forsaking the health of young children for financial gain, is unacceptable. Even if the act was accidental, this is still a tragedy. But, it does seem kind of strange to me that if they did so, not one but THREE different companies didn't know about the obvious side effects of lead poisoning. From young I've been told that lead is toxic to the human body even from my own peers. So how is it that three different corporations filled with employees who could easily plug in "lead ingestion effects" into Google just didn't know? There's no way that such companies would set out to poison kids and risk ruining their own reputation, so I'm wondering if this was all just blind ignorance. I also thought that all food products on the market had to be FDA approved ahead of time (feel free to correct me if that's wrong). If so, how did these lead filled apple sauces even go on the market to begin with?
This is awful. I remember having applesauce when I was a kid. I can't imagine what other things big corporations are putting in their food from their lack of care. While capitalism creates good things from competition with other companies, it also prioritizes money over more important things like safety. As Chin-Yi said, it's crazy how this was FDA approved as it was marketed and distributed to children. Lead in applesauce to make it heavier and sold for more is crazy. It's mind boggling how people in these companies were like "oh lets add lead to applesauce to make an extra couple cents a packet." I think the only way for these companies to make up what they have done is pay a HUGE fine both to the FDA, people who were impacted, AND have checkups on ALL packets sold in the future. If I could I might also have the president step down (or whoever made this decision).
I believe this act can definitely be attributed not just to carelessness but also to greed and selfishness. It is careless to ignore the safety of the consumers of one's product, but the motivation to utilize lead within these products in order to maximize the weight of the product, and therefore product, comes across as even more sinister, highlighting the faults of the system that rewards greed and the accumulation of capital by any means necessary. In an article I found related to lead poisoning, it seems there is a disproportionate effect of lead poisoning in black communities than in white and more affluent communities. Segregation and systemic racism most definitely played a role with this. Through redlining, the government was able to outline and label neighborhoods that had a high concentration of black people and were generally poor as "red" and risky to lend people mortgages. This in turn led to homes with worse conditions, neighborhoods and communities that were poorer and more disrupted. Among these worse conditions were using materials that were toxic to humans as materials to build and construct homes- one of them being lead, leading to an influx of lead poisoning in black communities compared to their white counterparts.
https://www.healthline.com/health/lead-poisoning-black-communities#redlining
This post is really upsetting. I love applesauce and I know many children worldwide also enjoy these pouches so having lead be in a popular food item is extremely upsetting. Not only do lovers now miss out on the sauce, but these companies are endangering a helpless population. Big companies choosing cash over customer is nothing new but it’s upsetting to see such a demographic become the new target. Looking at this I wonder what parents will do. Pouched baby food has become a reliant in some families and now with traces of lead in children's food some are left with no options. This could be a demographic target or just a plain lack of care from big business and it’s frustrating to see. This should not be considered common! Lead poisoning is no joke and is extremely harmful, poisoning innocent children and families is terrible! Finding out the dangerous state of our food has become a big topic recently and in some way normalized. Let’s not normalize poison!
I am glad Gaby brought up this story. As an applesauce consumer myself, it is truly concerning how these companies are putting the health of their consumers at risk, especially children. On the topic of lead, it is extremely important to note that lead-based paints were banned in homes in 1978 because children ended up having health issues after consuming paint chips or inhaling paint dust. If these corporations are intentionally putting lead in our applesauce, they should face the consequences of putting their consumers at risk of lead poisoning. However, these companies are not the only ones at fault. The FDA has failed the people to protect their health and to ensure that the foods they consume are safe to eat. Ultimately, everyone should be held accountable for allowing significant levels of lead to be in our applesauce.
Although I understand everybody's concern, I believe there is a misunderstanding about who is responsible for introducing lead contaminants into the applesauce packets. The ones actually selling the applesauce (WanaBana, Weis, and Schnucks Brands) were not the ones using lead to increase product weight, but it is instead a singular Ecuadorian cinnamon provider (Negasmart) using the toxic metal to make their shipments heavier and thus more costly for the applesauce manufacturers to then purchase and use. Regardless, such reckless behavior should be condemned, though we ought to reevaluate who exactly it is that we are directing our displeasure. Personally, I believe both Negasmart and the applesauce manufacturers should share the blame, one for disregarding the health of the consumers of their goods and the other for not testing the safety of the food they intend to sell. However, the cinnamon producer not being located in the United States, it will be difficult for any US entity to pursue legal action against them unless Ecuadorian officials act in a timely and diligent manner.
Even though I've never been a huge fan of apple sauce, It's still horrible to see how companies would put millions of children at risk by mass-producing these products filled with lead. I believe that while it isn't completely known whether or not the addition of lead was intentional If more evidence is released of it being an intentional act, I wouldn't be surprised to see huge backlash from families across the nation, especially through social media and news outlets. To add on, I also wouldn't be surprised if we found out very soon that other huge food companies are also taking part in adding unhealthy things to products. If an apple sauce company is adding lead to the product to make more profit, I wouldn't be surprised if other companies were doing the same. Watch out and stay safe everyone.
I think it is very sickening to see that for the sake of making large amounts of profits, these apple sauce companies willingly and knowingly go to lengths to adding contaminants into their products. It causes me to wonder the kind of process and strictness the FDA processes and checks are to approve consumable food items that are to be sold to the general public. Seeing as other large corporations and industries follow similar practices, I think it is really good that articles like these are being published to give a sense of accountability to large corporations and to make everyone aware of the type of foods they are putting in their bodies.
It's disheartening to witness apple sauce companies prioritizing profits over consumer well-being by intentionally adding contaminants to their products. This raises questions about the thoroughness and stringency of the FDA's approval processes for consumable food items intended for the general public. Considering that other major corporations and industries may engage in similar practices, the publication of articles addressing these issues is crucial. Such articles contribute to holding large corporations accountable and raising awareness among the public about the quality of the foods they consume.
To build off of Abbey's point on children being the primary consumers of applesauce, I'd also like to point out that it's a baby food as well, and should the consequences of lead poisoning arise in babies or young children, it'd be horrible to have parents blaming themselves for feeding their children something that they unknowingly knew was contaminated. I'm shocked that this hasn't garnered wider media attention-- the fact that 65 illnesses have already been reported should be enough. Additionally, Gaby mentioned how the addition of lead is believed to be intentional, motivated by a desire to add weight to the product, which I find shocking. It's so disorientating to see the same companies that design such artistic packaging specifically to appeal to kids also "intentionally" add lead to their products. At the same time, the fact that not one but three different companies are engaging in this also adds validity to that claim. But is there not any other substance that you can add to increase the weight?
In terms of policy, perhaps increasing punishments for companies that engage in such actions and also conducting more rigorous and routine tests for food products might help.
It is extremely concerning to know that these companies are choosing to allow their consumers to become sick all for the sake of profit. I think it just shows the state of these industries and how much they have chosen to prioritize money over the health of the very people who are keeping their companies alive. Most apple sauce eaters are young children, and it is insane that they are choosing to do this knowing that. What I think should happen to prevent this is enforcing stricter policies that don't allow for this kind of thing to happen. We also need more people to be talking about this so that these companies are held more accountable for their actions. I really hope that all businesses that are doing this sort of thing are exposed so that they are forced to change their ways. The 200 lead poisoning cases deserve justice immediately, and the best way we can deliver that is by enforcing a new set of harsher regulations. Furthermore, the FDA's limited jurisdiction disallows them from investigating those thought to be behind the poisonings, which is also a huge issue. More immediate action directly investigating the perpetrators need to happen now.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/recalled-applesauce-pouches-cinnamon-lead-poisoning-cases-states-cdc/
It is disheartening to see that companies that are targeted toward children would intentionally put lead in their apple sauces for economical gain. I am an avid chewy bar consumer and recently a similar scandal was brought upon them with salmonella poisoning in their bars and all their products were called back from safeways and such. The amount of salmonella they had also was fatal and compromised immune systems so this relates directly to my life. I found it concerning that big companies can get away with things like lead poisoning or salmonella poisoning for that long without going unnoticed as they continue to pull in economic gain. It's especially dehumanizing to see this happen to products specialized for children because it portrays the evil greed of some companies being okay with putting young children's life to risk just for their gain. It’s also interesting to think about the FDA’s role in this because they are supposed to approve of these foods beforehand so I wonder how they did not catch this. I know that with chewy bars they were FDA approved and now I believe that they aren't FDA approved anymore so I wonder how that plays out with this issue.
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