Lead chromate is intentionally added to imported cinnamon as an adulterant, and the FDA has no pre-market testing program to catch it

In late 2023, cinnamon applesauce pouches sold under the WanaBana, Weis, and Schnucks brands were found to contain lead levels more than 200 times what the FDA considers safe for fruit purees intended for children. The FDA determined that lead chromate — an industrial chemical used as a yellow pigment in paints — had been intentionally added to the cinnamon supply in Ecuador to increase its weight and deepen its color, a form of economically motivated adulteration. The contamination poisoned at least 566 children across 44 states, with 96% of cases in children under 6 and 55% in children under 2. Why it matters: When an industrial toxin is deliberately added to a spice and reaches hundreds of thousands of product units sold in major U.S. retailers, it means there is no systematic check between a foreign spice supplier and a child's mouth. So over 500 children ingested dangerous levels of lead, a neurotoxin that causes irreversible brain damage at any exposure level. So parents had no warning because the product looked and tasted normal. So the contamination was only discovered after multiple children presented with elevated blood lead levels at pediatric clinics in North Carolina — meaning clinical symptoms in children served as the detection system, not any regulatory testing. So the FDA's Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP), which requires importers to verify the safety of their supply chain, failed completely. The structural root cause is that the FDA does not require pre-market testing of imported spices for heavy metals or adulterants. Importers are required under the FSVP to conduct hazard analyses and verify their foreign suppliers, but the FDA found that all three importers of the contaminated product failed to comply with basic FSVP requirements. The FDA's own data show that approximately 12% of imported spice shipments are adulterated with filth and 6.6% test positive for Salmonella, yet the agency examines only 1-2% of imports. Economically motivated adulteration of spices — including adding lead-based dyes to turmeric, chili powder, and cinnamon — is a known, documented global problem that the current regulatory system relies on importers to self-police.