Applesauce pouches may have intentionally been poisoned with lead: FDA
Gabrielle M. Etzel
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Food and Drug Administration officials suspect that tainted cinnamon applesauce pouches that have possibly resulted in the lead poisoning of at least 65 children in the United States may have been intentional, according to a preliminary investigation.
FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones told Politico that “all of the signals we’re getting lead to an intentional act on the part of someone in the supply chain.”
THE ECONOMIC INDICATOR SCREAMING THAT INFLATION IS NOT VANQUISHED
The FDA has been investigating lead contamination in the applesauce products made by Florida-based food manufacturer WanaBana since October. WanaBana, along with other brands Weis and Schnucks, are linked to the same manufacturing facility in Ecuador.
Updates from the agency as of Tuesday indicated that the FDA is also conducting on-site inspections of an Austrofoods facility, the South American exporter, and is working in conjunction with Ecuadorian authorities.
“My instinct is they didn’t think this product was going to end up in a country with a robust regulatory process,” Jones told Politico. “They thought it was going to end up in places that did not have the ability to detect something like this.”
All 65 of the reported adverse reactions to the recalled products have been under the age of 6.
The FDA is speculating that the product adulteration was “economically motivated,” a tactic that companies use to produce a cheaper item that can be sold at a higher price.
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Although the FDA is working with Ecuadorian authorities, the U.S. agency has limited authority over foreign ingredient suppliers.
“We’re going to chase that data and find whoever was responsible and hold them accountable,” Jones said.