this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
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Tainted cinnamon applesauce pouches that have sickened scores of children in the U.S. may have been purposefully contaminated with lead, according to FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones.

“We’re still in the midst of our investigation. But so far all of the signals we’re getting lead to an intentional act on the part of someone in the supply chain and we’re trying to sort of figure that out,” Jones said in an exclusive interview. The pouches found to be contaminated were sold under three brands — Weis, WanaBana and Schnucks — that are all linked to a manufacturing facility in Ecuador. The FDA says it’s conducting an inspection of that facility.

“My instinct is they didn’t think this product was going to end up in a country with a robust regulatory process,” Jones said. “They thought it was going to end up in places that did not have the ability to detect something like this.”

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[–] acceptable_pumpkin@lemmy.world 209 points 11 months ago (3 children)

This is where those US based companies should get absolutely reamed. Want to profit off cheap labor and raw materials from developing countries with “lax” controls? Then you should face all consequences and lost profits. No “blaming” some other supplier.

[–] saze@feddit.uk 67 points 11 months ago (5 children)

China executed mfers when companies sold tainted baby milk powder.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 39 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I'm not a huge fan of China, but I'll admit they're doing at least one thing right.

[–] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Lead is sweet. That’s why kids eat paint chips.

Someone saved money on sugar and biocide.

The reason why I tacked this on after your comment is that you are on to something.

[–] fiat_lux@kbin.social 20 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (6 children)

Sugar is way too cheap to use lead these days. 100 years ago this would have been plausible to me, but not today.

Lead is used as a plastic softener, and these packages were likely not rated for food usage and whoever bought them online hadn't checked for FDA approval for food safety before purchasing. It could have been something as simple as someone accidentally using the wrong materials in the factory too.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I thought the lead was in the cinnamon used?

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 46 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How about jailing responsible execs? Money wrist slaps notoriously don't do shit

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Keep increasing the penalty until it actually has an effect.

Even if it never changes their behavior, all the free money can be used for other things until they go out of business.

There should be a tiered system, too. First offenders just have to pay a certain amount to cover all expenses and then some. Subsequent offenders should have to pay more, probably double at the minimum.

Just like how insurers increase rates when we use their services, taxpayers should increase rates for businesses that use their services.

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[–] Ryan213@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Miniscule fine incoming...

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[–] gastationsushi@lemmy.world 58 points 11 months ago (14 children)

When you read these stories just remember the leaders who profit off these products are shielded from their cost saving decisions. Late stage capitalism y'all.

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[–] RickRussell_CA@lemmy.world 53 points 11 months ago (1 children)

we’re trying to sort of figure that out

Well that inspires confidence.

[–] drislands@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago

I think it's just a literal quote of how he spoke, and not an attempt at waffling around an answer. The guy seems to have a goal in mind in the article.

[–] ExLisper@linux.community 42 points 11 months ago (1 children)

“My instinct is they didn’t think this product was going to end up in a country with a robust regulatory process,”

Is this guy serious? It wasn't detected before kids got sick, they still don't know what happened and he's talking about 'robust regulatory process'? Here in EU I always check where products come from (not to buy something from Catalonia by accident) and all the food is made in EU. It's because there are strict regulations on food safety, workplace safety, monitoring and so on. Countries that do now meet those requirements have tariffs put on their food and there's extra requirements and check on imports (ask the UK). That's why I keep hearing about cases here where they recall some food before anyone gets sick. But yeah, bringing food from Ecuador, waiting for kids to get sick and then trying to figure out what happened is 'robust regulatory process'. Amazing.

[–] qdJzXuisAndVQb2@lemm.ee 17 points 11 months ago (31 children)

Why do you avoid buying from catalonia?

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[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago

What the fuck

[–] lemmylommy@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago (26 children)

Why does child food need to be produced thousands of miles away?

[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 33 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] foggy@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Ah, right. How much are the CEOs making as compared to their lowest paid workers?

I know you're not trying to justify it. Just some horse balls is all.

[–] MelodiousFunk@kbin.social 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Just some horse balls is all.

Those went into the peach cobbler.

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[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 20 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I read the article. Is this because lead has a sweet, appealing flavor? I remember reading this was a huge problem at certain times and places.

[–] squiblet@kbin.social 30 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

That would be similar to that fucked up thing that happened in China where some corrupt companies were putting a plastic resin in milk to cheat protein level tests.

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[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Ancient Romans used it to sweeten wine. Also why kids used to be fond of eating lead paint chips. Slightly sweet.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 11 points 11 months ago

So this was driving me nuts, so I had to look it up. I thought I dreamed it.

Apparently, this continued for centuries, and may have contributed to Beethoven's illness and death.

I think I actually read about it in a thread here on Lemmy.

[–] Evia@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

Yeah, this wasn't someone with a grudge against children poisoning their food, this was an willfully negligent decision made by the producers to make the product more profitable

[–] cmbabul@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

We used to put fucking formaldehyde in milk for infants

[–] Chozo@kbin.social 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It keeps the babies fresh.

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[–] DigitalPaperTrail@kbin.social 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

After watching the segment about food safety on Last Week Tonight, I wouldn't call what the US has as "a robust regulatory process"

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[–] _lilith@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (8 children)

All these say no sugar added. Lead tastes sweet. So I guess that counts as an alternative sweetener?

[–] IvanOverdrive@lemm.ee 10 points 11 months ago

hol up. gonna try this out

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[–] nifty@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The source of contamination is possibly a production facility in Ecuador, possibly due to using a cheaper cinnamon alternative. I thought I should post this because comments are wrongly asserting (I think) that a person in a U.S. production supply chain did this. It seems less malicious and more cost-savings oriented, which is why regulations and policies help save people from bottomline focused tendencies.

The FDA continues to investigate a number of theories for how the pouches became contaminated, and has not drawn any conclusions about the way the lead was added, why or by whom. The FDA says it currently believes the adulteration is “economically motivated.” That generally refers to ingredients being altered in order to make products appear higher in value, often so companies can produce a cheaper item and sell it at an elevated price.

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[–] Yoz@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Humans are really fucked. No wonder all these billionaires don't want to help anyone but themselves.

[–] oxideseven@lemmy.ca 20 points 11 months ago

This is sad indeed and this person is a wretch, but most of humanity is perfectly fine. There are some awful people and they make the news and are talked about cus we love gossip.

But have faith in humanity. Most of it is just like you and wants things to be good and tons of them go out there and do good, we just rarely talk about them or encourage others to do good for their community.

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[–] BobGnarley@lemm.ee 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

"Robust regulatory processes" my fucking ass dude. Food recalls happen ALL THE TIME in the US (AFTER all the kids get sick and die, mind you) and this fucking clown wants to talk about how great our FDA is? What a joke! And youll think well, maybe its just the cheaper brands and you would be wrong. Name brands and off brands all get contaminated I swear I see it at least once a month. Just google food recalls in the past year. Not only that, a lot of the literal poison they put in our food is illegal everywhere else. UK just seized thousands of pounds of candy from us because of "illegal ingredients" What fucking deception to say that our FDA is even remotely competent. If I didnt live here, I would NEVER eat the food from here

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 25 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Isn't the high amount of recalls the evidence of the processes working?

This feels like saying "our border is insecure! Look at all the drugs we confiscated!"

[–] BobGnarley@lemm.ee 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

A "robust regulatory process" wouldnt have 10 million plus jars of peanut butter with E Coli contamination make it to the store shelves and take months to figure out about, AFTER some people die. That happened like 1 to 2 years ago. Now a bunch of kids get lead poisoning from Applesauce pouches so we take them off the shelves and act like we have some amazing system. How about those cancer causing dyes that california is banning andNOW the FDA is talking about, PERHAPS banning them nationwide. Our FDA is trash.

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[–] sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works 9 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Well, if anybody is an expert on poisoned kid's drinks it's Jim Jones.

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