The Republican senator says that China has ‘a history of engaging in economic adulteration.’
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the sourcing of cinnamon used in recalled products after reports of high levels of lead found in cinnamon applesauce pouches.
As of Dec. 5, a total of 64 children under the age of 6 in the United States tested positive for lead poisoning after consuming apple puree pouches that were recently recalled due to lead contamination, the FDA stated.
The recalled food products were marketed to parents and children under the brands WanaBana apple cinnamon fruit puree and Schnucks- and Weis-branded cinnamon applesauce pouches.
“It appears that the high lead levels were associated with the cinnamon in this product, and not the applesauce,” Mr. Scott said in a letter addressed to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf on Dec. 15.
“It also appears that the company that was selling these fruit pouches was sourcing cinnamon from an Ecuadorian supplier that may have been purchasing cinnamon from Asian countries, such as Communist China.”
Mr. Scott explained that high lead levels in spices, such as cinnamon, could be the result of “high levels in the soil the product was grown in, potential contamination in the supply chain during processing, or economically motivated adulteration such as adding lead chromate to increase the product’s weight.”
He noted that the FDA was investigating the cinnamon contamination “as a case of potential economic adulteration”—which occurs when someone adds a substance to a food to make it appear better or of greater value.
“This is a serious issue because it demonstrates the vulnerability of the U.S. supply chain,” Mr. Scott remarked.
The senator said that “Communist China has been known to engage in economically motivated adulteration such as adding melamine (a chemical used in plastics) to infant formula which led to kidney failure in babies and at least six deaths.”
Mr. Scott recalled a 2008 case in which 81 people in the United States died as a result of the use of counterfeit precursor chemicals in the manufacturing of heparin, an anticoagulant, in a non-sterile environment by some Chinese companies.
