Cinnamon is a popular autumn addition to hot beverages and comfort-food desserts, but a new report from Consumer Reports warns that some cinnamon and spice is not everything nice. Prompted by reports last year that high lead levels in applesauce pouches were tied back to an Ecuadorian cinnamon grinder, the nonprofit tested for lead in 36 different ground-cinnamon products and spice blends procured from 17 stores online and in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. The results were "troubling," per CR: One-third of their tested items registered more than 1 part per million of lead—"the threshold that triggers a recall in New York, the only state in the US that regulates heavy metals in spices."
That means if you consumed just a quarter of a teaspoon of any of those high-lead cinnamon powders, it would be more lead than you should ingest in a day, says James Rogers, who heads up food safety research and testing at CR. Paras cinnamon powder was the worst offender on the "Don't Use" list, with a 3.52ppm reading. For contrast, the reading for cinnamon powder from McCormick, one of the most popular spice brands, was 0.23ppm, which landed that product on the "OK to Use" list. But even brands that don't claim outwardly dangerous lead levels can pose an issue down the line.
"Even small amounts of lead pose a risk because, over time, it can accumulate in the body and remain there for years, seriously harming health," Rogers adds. In fact, the EPA says that no level of lead is safe, especially when it comes to kids, reports CNN. Lead poisoning for our youngest set could lead to symptoms including developmental delays, learning issues, weight loss, vomiting, seizures, and pica; it can even prove fatal.
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Paras and EGN, which came in second on the "Don't Use" list with a 2.91ppm reading, told CR after the testing that they'd yank their products from store shelves, reports USA Today. As for the dozen or so cinnamon or spice blend products that didn't pass muster by CR's gauge: "If you have one of those products, we think you should throw it away," Rogers says in the release. Read more about Consumer Reports' testing methodology here. (More cinnamon stories.)
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