FDA winds down part of lead-contaminated applesauce probe
The FDA said Tuesday it’s winding down its response efforts for its investigation into lead-contaminated cinnamon applesauce pouches from WanaBana.
The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it’s winding down some of its U.S. response to lead-contaminated cinnamon applesauce pouches, which have sickened hundreds of children across the country.
The FDA will continue to actively investigate how WanaBana’s apple cinnamon fruit puree pouches, which were recalled in late October because of high lead levels, became contaminated. However, much of the work the agency has done to ensure no one else buys the applesauce pouches has ended.
The agency has pulled the product from stores and prevented any more of it from being imported into the United States. Two other products made by WanaBana — Schnucks applesauce pouches with cinnamon and Weis cinnamon applesauce — were also recalled and removed from stores.
The WanaBana pouches had been sold at discount retail stores, including Dollar Tree. For several months after the recall, there were reports of it still being on store shelves.
"It would be comforting to see data about how many stores had the products listed as contaminated and to see how they've ensured the removal of those products from store shelves," said Laurie Beyranevand, director of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School. “These concerns are especially important given the prevalence of those stores being located in communities with lower incomes."
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