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MN toddler impacted by applesauce lead poisonings
Mom Alyssa Magnuson said she was able to connect the dots after a routine blood test for Stevie came back high for lead.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Alyssa Magnuson pays close attention to her 15-month-old daughter, Stevie Reid.
“She’s really picking up on a lot of words lately. And climbing… she’s a climber,” said Magnuson, who lives near Pine City.
So it came as a surprise when a routine blood test during Stevie’s 12-month checkup came back high for lead.
“It was a scary feeling knowing that she had that and I would have never known,” Magnuson said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses a blood level reference value of 2.5 micrograms per deciliter to identify children with concerning blood lead levels. Stevie’s was at 23.4.
After ruling out all the usual reasons, Magnuson was confused. Then a week later, she saw the news about cinnamon applesauce and puree pouches that had been recalled due to elevated lead levels.
“It just felt horrible because it was something that I had been feeding her and I thought it was something that was going to… be a healthier option for an easy, on-the-go snack,” Magnuson said.
The recalled brands include WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis. Information on lot codes and UPCs can be found here.
Magnuson said her daughter had been eating the WanaBana Apple Cinnamon Fruit Purée pouches. She had bought them from Dollar Tree.
After realizing why her daughter tested high for lead, she went to the local Dollar Trees to make sure the affected products were off the shelves.
“My doctor thinks that we found it early enough… it’s kind of too early to tell but she thinks that she’s probably going to be just fine, thank goodness, since she didn’t have it very long-term and it was a lower level,” Magnuson said.
A facility in Ecuador is linked with the recalled pouches for its cinnamon. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), samples of cinnamon from the plant contained 2,000 times more lead than what’s allowed by federal guidelines.
“No one has any idea how this got in with the cinnamon,” U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said.
Sen. Klobuchar met with Magnuson at Children’s Minnesota on Sunday to do interviews on the issue.
“I did a baby food bill a few years ago and now we’re in the course of revamping it to make it work better for this situation,” Sen. Klobuchar said. “We’re just working on making sure the bill fits these circumstances and that there’s more oversight.”
The proposed Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 would mandate “FDA set maximum levels for heavy metals in infant and toddler food, and allows FDA to establish binding allowable levels of heavy metals for any food.” It also would create more accountability for food facility owners, operators and manufacturers by setting requirements that baby food products be sampled and tested in final product form for toxic heavy metals and the results be reported to the FDA.
Currently, most baby food manufacturers do not test their finished products and instead test only individual ingredients, according to Sen. Klobuchar’s office. It would also “clarify FDA’s mandatory recall authority over products that don’t meet standards or are rendered adulterated.”
The bill has not been introduced yet but Sen. Klobuchar expects it will be in the coming months.
In December, Sen. Klobuchar joined other lawmakers in a letter to the FDA that urged the agency to swiftly finalize its “Closer to Zero” guidance for the industry. It aims to reduce dietary exposure to contaminants to as low as possible.
“The most important thing with lead treatment is actually getting rid of the exposure and preventing it, hopefully, in the first place. Because once it’s in the body, it’s just really hard to get out,” said Dr. Abby Montague, a pediatrician and medical toxicologist at Children’s Minnesota.
Dr. Montague agreed that there need to be changes made to prevent something like this from happening again.
“Lead is a metal that we pay a lot of attention to because we know it can directly impact kids’ brains and their development. So even at low levels of lead exposure, children who have it in their blood are more likely to have learning or behavior issues later in life than a child who’s never had that exposure,” Dr. Montague said.
Dr. Montague said parents should make sure their kids are up to date on their well-child visits. If a child has consumed one of the recalled products, Dr. Montague said parents should reach out to their healthcare provider about getting tested.
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MINNEAPOLIS — How much do you know about your grandma’s upbringing?
“The Stories From My Grandmother’s Hands” is a book that aims to show young Black children how their grandmas lived through beautiful illustrations and descriptions.
KARE 11 News at Noon shared more on Thursday about the impact that this book will have.
Gary Peterson and his friends are collecting donations to help people in their community.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — A St. Louis Park pumpkin display is raising money for their local food shelf.
Gary Peterson started carving and painting three pumpkins over a decade ago. It’s now grown to over 100.
“I’ve heard people say they’ve come from Hutchinson,” he said.
Peterson along with two of his neighbors have spent the last 14 years growing their display, turning it into a neighborhood event.
“It’s been incredible, I just can’t believe how much this has expanded,” he said. “We did it just because we like to and then people were asking to give us money to cover the cost.”
The trio refused to take people’s money, but then one of them had an idea.
“My neighbor, Steve Leensvaart, just mentioned how about we just do it for the STEP program and the STEP program is our local food shelf in St. Louis Park,” he said.
So, they started to collect donations to help families in need. They’ve raised hundreds of dollars and donated hundreds of pounds of food over the last few years, carving for a cause.
“It is more gratifying every year,” Peterson said.
He estimated they have over 100 unique pumpkins in their yard. They’ve created the displays and come up with new family-friendly concepts for people to enjoy. Peterson said about 30 of their neighbors carved their own pumpkins to be put on display, and it’s been a big hit.
“It’s great. In the last couple of years, it’s turned into more of a neighborhood event,” said Sarah Durch.
“We love this Halloween display, we come every year to see it. We love that the whole community gets involved to craft and carve the pumpkins,” said Jami Gordon-Smith.
“The shading and the details are unbelievable,” said Elizabeth Hanson.
Hanson hopes to take her 2-year-old son trick or treating for the first time but is worried the cold temperatures might keep them indoors.
“We’re going trick or treating hopefully,” she said. “He’s going to be a firefighter, but we’re probably going to have sweatshirts maybe like two pairs of sweatpants underneath. We’re going to be bundled up.”
Gordon-Smith said her family will be out Halloween night no matter the weather.
“Halloween only comes once a year, so you really have to take advantage and enjoy the evening no matter what the weather brings,” she said. “Guess it’s not totally unheard of in Minnesota to have a cold Halloween, but we are going to try and modify and do a lot of layers underneath our costumes and then we might add some hats and maybe some warmer socks.”
Durch also isn’t surprised they’re in for another chilly night.
“Well, what would Halloween be without Minnesota cold? I feel like every time you plan a costume you have to plan for how you can make this work if it’s snowing,” she said.
Peterson said they will have a bonfire and some hot chocolate and cider on Halloween to keep trick-or-treaters warm while they look at their pumpkins.
Click here to learn where you can see the pumpkins and how you can donate.
Jeremy Jourdain was 17 when he was last seen on Halloween 2016.
BEMIDJI, Minn. — The search for Jeremy Jourdain, who was last seen on Halloween in 2016, continues now eight years later.
Jourdain was last seen at a family member’s house in Bemidji, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs. He left the residence near the 500 block of Wood Avenue after midnight and while people followed him, no one was able to find him.
Jourdain was 17 at the time.
Officials said he was wearing a blue and grey sweatshirt, and blue jeans when last seen. He is Native American and is described as 6 foot 5 and 175 pounds.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, you can contact the Bemidji Police Department at (218) 333-9111. Tips can also be sent to 1-833-560-2065, or you can email ojs_mmu@bia.gov.
