CBS News
Recalled applesauce pouches likely contained lead due to a single cinnamon processor the FDA just identified
Authorities in Ecuador have named a suspect in their investigation of now-recalled lead-tainted applesauce, which has been linked to poisonings of more than 400 Americans across 43 states, the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday — but U.S authorities have “limited authority” to take steps against him.
Ecuador’s authorities allege that Carlos Aguilera, a cinnamon grinder in Ecuador, is “the likely source” of the poisonings, the FDA said in an update, noting that the investigation by the Agencia Nacional de Regulación, Control y Vigilancia Sanitaria and legal proceedings to determine responsibility for the contamination are still ongoing.
U.S. authorities have said for months that they suspected that the lead poisonings could be intentional, saying one of the theories they were pursuing was that it was the result of “economically motivated adulteration” of the cinnamon used in the applesauce.
“FDA’s investigation is ongoing to determine the point of contamination and whether additional products are linked to illnesses,” the agency said in its statement.
Other spices, such as turmeric, have been intentionally tainted using lead and other substances in the past, by sellers looking to hide defects in their products or otherwise inflate the amount of money they can make.
Testing of cinnamon sticks that Aguilera had sourced from Sri Lanka but not yet processed were tested by Ecuador and were not contaminated with lead, the FDA said.
The FDA previously said that ground cinnamon supplied from Ecuadorian distributor Negasmart, which ended up in WanaBana’s applesauce, tested for levels of lead and chromium contamination at “extremely high” concentrations far above what experts think is safe.
In December, the FDA cited WanaBana for failing to test its cinnamon applesauce pouches for heavy metals. The agency said the applesauce maker should have taken steps to mitigate the risk that cinnamon it was buying for its pouches could be tainted with lead and other toxins.
But the agency has also stopped short of definitively describing the lead poisonings as intentional, as opposed to the result of an accident or environmental contamination.
Last year, FDA officials said its probe of the then-unnamed grinder suspected to be behind the poisonings had been hampered by limits to their jurisdiction in Ecuador.
“The FDA has limited authority over foreign ingredient suppliers who do not directly ship product to the U.S. This is because their food undergoes further manufacturing/processing prior to export. Thus, the FDA cannot take direct action with Negasmart or Carlos Aguilera,” the FDA said in its Tuesday update.
It is unclear what direct action the FDA would otherwise take, if Aguilera had been a supplier within its jurisdiction. It is also not clear what other theories the FDA is pursuing for why Aguilera’s ground cinnamon was tainted with lead.
An FDA spokesperson was unable to immediately provide a response to a request for comment.
“My child’s favorite snack”
At least 413 cases of lead poisoning have been linked by health departments to the recalled applesauce pouches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency previously said most reported cases had been in young children, with the median age of cases at around two years old.
Complaints filed by parents with the FDA, obtained by CBS News through a Freedom of Information Act request, say that some children had been consuming multiple pouches daily of the cinnamon applesauce before the recall.
“I can’t believe something so toxic that’s geared towards babies, toddlers, and young children fell through the cracks and now has affected my child and others,” one person wrote, after they said their daughter had consumed the pouches.
The 2-year-old’s lead levels tested as high as 25.4 deciliters per microgram, the complaint said, far beyond the thresholds when the CDC urges parents and doctors to take steps to address lead poisoning.
The CDC warns young children are especially vulnerable to the array of serious long-term harms caused by lead poisoning, including damage to the brain and nervous system.
“So sad to lose complete faith in a company that was once my child’s favorite snack,” they wrote.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
Sen. Thom Tillis says “the scope” of Helene damage in North Carolina “is more like Katrina”
As recovery missions and repairs continue in North Carolina more than a week after Hurricane Helene carved a path of devastation through the western part of the state, the state’s Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called for more resources to bolster the relief effort and likened the damage to Hurricane Katrina’s mark on Louisiana in 2005.
“This is unlike anything that we’ve seen in this state,” Tillis told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday morning. “We need increased attention. We need to continue to increase the surge of federal resources.”
Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southeast U.S. after making landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as a powerful Category 4 storm. Helene brought heavy rain and catastrophic flooding to communities across multiple states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, with North Carolina bearing the brunt of the destruction. Officials previously said hundreds of roads in western North Carolina were washed out and inaccessible after the storm, hampering rescue operations, and several highways were blocked by mudslides.
Tillis said Sunday that most roads in the region likely remained closed due to flooding and debris. Water, electricity and other essential services still have not been fully restored.
“The scope of this storm is more like Katrina,” he said. “It may look like a flood to the outside observer, but again, this is a landmass roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts, with damage distributed throughout. We have to get maximum resources on the ground immediately to finish rescue operations.”
Hurricane Katrina left more than 1,000 people dead after it slammed into Louisiana’s Gulf Coast in August 2005, flooding neighborhoods and destroying infrastructure in and around New Orleans as well as in parts of the surrounding region. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. in the last 50 years, and the costliest storm on record.
The death toll from Hurricane Helene is at least 229, CBS News has confirmed, with at least 116 of those deaths reported in North Carolina alone. Officials have said they expect the death toll to continue to rise as recovery efforts were ongoing, and a spokesperson for the police department in Asheville told CBS News Friday their officers were “actively working 75 cases of missing persons.”
On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Transportation released $100 million in emergency funds for North Carolina to rebuild the roads and bridges damaged by the hurricane.
“We are providing this initial round of funding so there’s no delay getting roads repaired and reopened, and re-establishing critical routes,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris administration will be with North Carolina every step of the way, and today’s emergency funding to help get transportation networks back up and running safely will be followed by additional federal resources.”
President Biden previously announced that the federal government would cover “100%” of costs for debris removal and emergency protective measures in North Carolina for six months.
With North Carolina leaders working with a number of relief agencies to deal with the aftermath of the storm, Tillis urged federal officials to ramp up the resources being funneled into the state’s hardest-hit areas. The senator also addressed a surge in conspiracy theories and misinformation about the Biden Administration’s disaster response, which have been fueled by Republican political figures like former President Donald Trump.
Trump falsely claimed that Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent in the November presidential election, were diverting funds from Federal Emergency Management Agency that would support the relief effort in North Carolina toward initiatives for immigrants. He also said baselessly that the administration and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, were withholding funds because many communities that were hit hardest are predominantly Republican. Elon Musk has shared false claims about FEMA, too.
“Many of these observations are not even from people on the ground,” Tillis said of those claims. “I believe that we have to stay focused on rescue operations, recovery operations, clearing operations, and we don’t need any of these distractions on the ground. It’s at the expense of the hard-working first responders and people that are just trying to recover their lives.”
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.