This is the first week it’s really felt like fall to me, and just in time, too, with the autumn equinox coming on Sunday. The temps in my neighborhood have been consistently lower, it’s slightly but still noticeably darker when I get home from work, and Dunkin’ is trying to bully me into ordering one of their eleventy new Pumpkin Spice offerings. While pumpkin itself isn’t my jam, I do looooove cinnamon and many other warming spices that have their moment in the receding-sun this time of year. Well friends, don’t panic, but disaster has struck this season of spice. Consumer Reports has announced 12 brands (12!!) that have high levels of lead in their cinnamon and five spice powders. In their testing, Consumer Reports adhered to the New York state standard that considers anything greater than 1 part per million (ppm) to be too much lead. The brand with the worst results weighed in at 3.52 ppm. Here’s more key items from the new reporting:
[From USA Today]The dirty dozen: Consumer Reports, a nonprofit that helps consumers assess the safety and performance of goods, found high levels of lead in cinnamon powder and multi-spice powders from 12 brands — including Paras, EGN, Mimi’s Products, Bowl & Basket, Rani Brand, Zara Foods, Three Rivers, Yu Yee Brand, BaiLiFeng, Spicy King, Badia and Deep.
1 (part) in a million: The ground cinnamon powders and spice blends tested by Consumer Reports showed lead levels above 1 part per million (ppm), which is a level used by New York state to indicate products that should be recalled, according to the nonprofit. Consumer Reports’ food safety experts advised people to “avoid those products.” Simply a quarter teaspoon of any of the mentioned cinnamon products contains more lead than an individual should consume in an entire day, James Rogers, the director of food safety research and testing at Consumer Reports, said.
Throw it out: “If you have one of those products, we think you should throw it away,” according to Rogers. “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.” Frequent lead exposure can cause immune system suppression, reproductive issues, kidney damage, mood disorders, cognitive issues and hypertension in adults, according to Mayo Clinic. In children, lead exposure can contribute to slower growth and development, behavioral issues, seizures and other physical symptoms, the medical center said.
By the numbers: Paras cinnamon powder had the most lead containing 3.52 ppm, according to the report. The lead content in the other cinnamon and multi-spice products Consumer Reports suggested people avoid are: EGN cinnamon powder (2.91 ppm), Mimi’s Products ground cinnamon (2.03 ppm), Bowl & Basket ground cinnamon (1.82 ppm), Rani Brand ground cinnamon (1.39 ppm), Zara Foods cinnamon powder (1.27 ppm), Three Rivers cinnamon stick powder (1.26 ppm), Yu Yee Brand five spice powder (1.25 ppm), BaiLiFeng Brand five spice powder (1.15 ppm), Spicy King five spices powder (1.05 ppm), Badia cinnamon powder (1.03 ppm), Deep cinnamon powder (1.02 ppm).
These brands have safe levels: Consumer Reports also found some cinnamon and spice products from brands that were deemed safe after testing their lead content. Some of the brands and products include McCormick cinnamon (0.23 ppm), Kirkland Signature organic Saigon cinnamon (0.80 ppm), Great Value ground cinnamon (0.79 ppm), Trader Joe’s organic ground cinnamon (0.69 ppm), Good & Gather ground cinnamon (0.56 ppm), Simply Organic cinnamon (0.28 ppm), 365 Whole Foods Market ground cinnamon (0.12 ppm), 365 Whole Foods Market organic ground cinnamon (0.02 ppm) and Sadaf cinnamon powder (0.04 ppm).
Check your pantries! Doesn’t matter how recently you bought your spices — if it’s from one of the cited brands it is not worth the risk of exposure to lead. Looking at Amazon, prices range from $3.49 for 365 Whole Foods Market organic ground cinnamon, to $6.11 for Simply Organic, both brands from the safe-to-use list. But the peace of mind? Priceless. Consumer Reports is such an invaluable resource. Based on their findings, the two most egregious brands, Paras and EGN, have agreed to stop selling their cinnamon powders and pull any existing product from stores. But many of the other brands responded by simply spewing out PR on how they do their own testing. Including, I’m sorry to say, the corporation behind ShopRite Bowl & Basket, who said “the quality of our products is of the utmost importance and our cinnamon meets all safety and quality standards.” Reminder: Consumer Reports found 1.82 ppm of lead in their powders. And speaking of trust issues with businesses, should we now be asking restaurants to confirm which brands they use? Happy fall, y’all.
Photos credit: Pavel Danilyuk, Ekaterina Bolovtsova and Marta Branco on Pexels
THANK YOU KISMET! We are big cinnamon lovers in my household. And I throw it in pancake batter and waffle batter – anything and ALMOST everything.
Merde. I love cinnamon. I bake and cinnamon everything. Cinna banana bread, cinna apple pie, cinna spice cakes, cinna apple crisp, cinna spice Vietnamese pho, Im gonna throw everything out and go for the Walmart one.
Like you, we put cinnamon in and on nearly everything, including savory dishes.
Our counterpart to CR here in Europe also found that Ceylon cinnamon was better than Cassia cinnamon — which they found to be hepatotoxic.
I didn’t know that variety was toxic!!
I must be built wrong because I am not a cinnamon fan. I can take it in small doses, but ugh! I hate the smell.
They say you’re either obsessed or you hate it
Ahhhh!!! I LOVE cinnamon! Especially now that I can’t have chocolate! Thankfully my current cinnamon is McCormick. But I just grab whatever brand is in whatever store I’m in. Thanks for the caution.
This is yet another reason to buy Penzey’s cinnamon! Been buying and using their spices (including cinnamon) for years. Plus they are huge supporters of progressive causes and it has cost them dearly. After Kamala visited a store in Pittsburgh recently, Trump really went after them. A little more expensive but worth it if you can manage it.
Penzey’s really is the best: top-quality products, excellent customer service, and principled corporate values that are way more than just lip service.
Yes! And intermittently they offer $50 gift cards for $35. So great herbs and spices and great politics…
We use cinnamon daily here, in pancakes, coffee, protein drinks, waffles, even special eggplant pakoras for daily ja (chai) we use the actual piece of stick, not ground. We shop at Indian grocery stores in the US, would like to know those numbers but sprouts and Kroger are closer so we have those organic brands mentioned on the ok list.
I buy all my spices from savory spice shop or penzeys, both are online shops as well as brick and mortar if you are lucky to be near one.
If you cook or bake, get your spices from a spice merchant. the taste difference is astronomical!
As for cinnamon, most of what you are buying when you reach for mass market cinnamon is actually cassia, not cinnamon.
I do use cassia for some things, but I also have 2 other different types of true cinnamon and the taste between the three are very different.
As a diabetic I use cinnamon daily! Thank goodness I only use canela which is a stick you can buy in Mexican food section or I buy McCormick
We just finished a huge thing of Kirkland cinnamon and I’m so relieved to see it’s on the safe list. God, I hate that we have to be so vigilant about not being poisoned by our food…
Yeah. I’m angry, though, that personal vigilance isn’t really enough. In the before times, quite a lot of the things that my parents bought — from food, to cosmetics, to cleaning supplies — were packaged in either cardboard, paper, or glass. Now, even newborns have been exposed to micro—plastics, and we really have no idea what the long term consequences of such exposures might be.
Do I drink tap water from old pipes and unknown sources and filter it through a plastic pitcher — or buy better water in plastic bottles? Many spices, flavorings, and even oils now come in plastic containers. I recently bought tea that was in plastic mesh teabags. Laundry detergent, hand sanitizer and soap, dish detergent— all come packaged in plastic before they clean my dishes, my body, and my clothes. And who even knows the impacts of multiple modifications of our food — thanks to GMOs. Even the presumably healthier and safer foods and products often have packaging issues. This is so NOT progress.
Rant done — for now.
Thanks MUCH for this post. I use a LOT of cinnamon, so I’m relieved to see that the brands I usually use are on the “safe” list. I’m still concerned though, since I’m sure that the amount that I use — in tea and as a seasoning — would be a factor in assessing the amount of lead that I’ve been ingesting.
Good reminder to renew my subscription to CR. They are definitely the Good Guys.
Another shout out for Penzey’s! Their cinnamon is amazing! Although I am currently using King Arthur’s vietnamese cinnamon, which is also incredible.