As many as 422 impacted by lead in cinnamon

As of February 13, 2024, FDA has not received any additional confirmed complaints/reports of adverse events potentially linked to recalled product. To date, confirmed complainants, or people for whom a complaint or adverse event was submitted and met FDA’s complainant definition, are between zero and 53 years of age and the median age is one year old.

CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health is conducting case finding efforts in collaboration with state and local health departments. CDC’s case definition for state partners includes a blood lead level of 3.5 µg/dL or higher measured within 3 months after consuming a recalled WanaBana, Schnucks, or Weis brand fruit puree product after November 2022. As of February 9, CDC has received reports of 101 confirmed cases, 284 probable cases, and 37 suspected cases for a total of 422 cases from 44 different states through their reporting structure. For more information, please visit CDC’s page to review their case reporting methodology and findings.

CDC and FDA have different data sources, so the counts reported by each agency will not directly correspond. In addition, some people who were affected by the contaminated product might be reflected in both the numbers reported by the FDA and the numbers reported by CDC, so the numbers should not be added together.

FDA’s investigation is ongoing to determine the point of contamination and whether additional products are linked to illnesses. FDA has no indication that this issue extends beyond these recalled products and does not have any confirmed reports of illnesses or elevated blood lead level adverse events reported for other cinnamon-containing products or cinnamon.

Previous updates not captured by the initial timeline below are in the Previous Updatessection. FDA will update the advisory as information becomes available.

Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.