Parents of children sickened by lead linked to tainted fruit pouches fear for kids’ future

When Cora Dibert went for a routine blood test in October, the toddler brought along her favorite new snack: a squeeze pouch of WanaBana cinnamon-flavored apple puree.

“She sucked them dry,” recalls her 26-year-old mother, Morgan Shurtleff, of Elgin, Oklahoma.

Within a week, the family got an alarming call. The test showed that the 1-year-old had lead poisoning, with nearly four times as much lead as the level that raises concern. Only later did Shurtleff learn that the fruit puree Cora’s grandmother bought at a Dollar Tree store may have been the cause.

“That was the scariest thing that ever happened to me,” Shurtleff says.

Cora is among dozens of young kids across the U.S. poisoned by lead linked to tainted pouches of the cinnamon-and-fruit puree.

The exact number of affected children is unclear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports at least 205 confirmed, probable or suspected cases from 33 states. Using a different reporting method, the Food and Drug Administration counts at least 69 kids ages 6 and younger sickened in 28 states as of Dec. 14.

Tests show victims had blood lead readings up to eight times higher than the federal reference level of concern, health officials said. Samples of the puree showed lead contamination more than 200 times higher than the FDA allows.

The pouches were sold under three brands — WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis. The products were produced at a plant in Ecuador and first imported to the U.S. in November 2022, the officials said.

Testing of cinnamon samples supplied to the factory showed “extremely high” levels of lead — more than 2,000 times higher than a proposed FDA maximum, the agency said.

FDA officials have raised the prospect that the contamination was intentional. One possibility is that the cinnamon was contaminated for economic reasons, the agency said. That could mean an ingredient such as lead may have been added to boost the value of the cinnamon.

Spices such as turmeric, cinnamon and paprika have been known to be mixed with lead chromate or lead oxide, compounds that mirror the spices’ colors, said Karen Everstine, technical director for FoodchainID, a company that tracks food supply chains.

“The intent is not to make people sick. Nobody wants to do that because then they get caught,” Everstine said. “What they want to do is make money.”

That angers Shurtleff.

If it’s true, “they made my child sick for a dime,” she said. “The more I think about it, the angrier I get.”

At the same time, she and other parents are most concerned about the lasting effects on their kids.

“I’m pretty worried, considering the effects are irreversible,” said Shurtleff, who works as a nurse.

No amount of lead exposure is safe for children and the effects on brain development can show up years later, said Dr. Jennifer Sample, a pediatric toxicologist who consults for industry and academics.

“It’s irritability. It’s behavioral concerns. It’s learning difficulties,” she said.

When kids ingest lead, the heavy metal travels through the bloodstream and spreads to organs, including the brain, Sample explained. Once there, the lead substitutes inside cells for vital nutrients such as calcium and iron, causing permanent damage.

Because kids’ brains are flexible and still growing, early detection and changes in diet may offset the harm, experts said. The children nevertheless will likely need years of monitoring and intervention.

“The effects in the brain at the cellular level are irreversible, but the downstream effects don’t have to be,” Sample said.

Lead poisoning can be treated with chelation, a therapy that uses drugs that bind to metals in blood to remove them from the body. But it’s only used with higher lead levels and it’s usually difficult to administer to the very young.

Instead, affected kids should eat a diet high in vitamin D, calcium and iron and be given a stimulating environment that encourages brain development.