Even seemingly benign, wholesome products can contain seriously unhealthy chemicals – it’s so hard to know where you’re food is coming from! In the latest lead scandal, the state of California is suing several major grocery stores – including Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s – for reportedly selling candied ginger and plum products with illegal lead levels.
The charges issued by the state attorney general’s office on April 30 point to the retailers’ negligence in knowingly selling products with high levels of lead without attaching proper warning labels. This goes directly against California’s Proposition 65, which requires businesses to give customers proper warning if any products are known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.
Before you run to throw out all the plum and ginger products in your kitchen, here are some of the specific items included in the lawsuit to take note of:
- Reed’s Crystallized Ginger
- Target’s Archer Farms Crystallized Ginger
- Trader Joe’s Uncrystallized Candied Ginger
- Whole Foods Bulk Ginger
- Ginger People Baker’s Cut Crystallized Ginger Chips
- Red Lantern Plum Candy
- Kan Rose Plum and Preserved Plum.
Lead and lead-tainted products have been in the news frequently over the years – even just earlier in 2013 when several major baby food companies were brought to trial over lead levels. And it’s not just an issue with packaged food and containers. Fruits and vegetables grown in leaded soil may contain lead, though the primary danger may lie on the plants’ surfaces as residue from soil and pesticides.
Exposure to lead has been correlated with impaired brain development in infants and children, as well as elevated blood pressure, impaired mental function, fertility problems, and memory loss in adults. What can you do to protect your family and home from lead exposure? Here are some tips from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission:
- Protect your home: Many homes built in the 20th century have materials that contain lead. If you’re buying or renting, check first to find out when it was built and with what materials. If you decide to renovate or repair, hire only EPA or state-approved lead safe firms. Also be sure to regularly clean floors and walls and maintain painted surfaces in good condition. (Contaminated dusk and cracked paint may be hazardous.)
- Protect your kids: Again, lead is more dangerous to children under 6-years-old. Wash your kids’ hands often; keep play areas and toys clean (also, older toys may have been painted with lead-containing paint); and keep kids from chewing or licking painted surfaces. (People with babies and toddlers will know what we mean.)
- Maintain healthy eating and lifestyle habits: If you are at any risk of lead exposure at work, be sure to remove shoes, wash, and change when you get home. According to the EPA, a diet rich in calcium and iron may reduce the risks of lead poisoning, and the ways food is prepared and stored can also be altered to minimize exposure (ie. using clean, toxin-free water.)
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