These Brands of Cinnamon and Spices May Contain Lead.

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If you have cinnamon or spice blends in your pantry, you may need to throw them out now.

Recent testing by Consumer Reports found that 12 ground cinnamon powders and spice blends contained lead at levels greater than 1 part per million (ppm), which is enough to meet New York recall standards and exceeds the threshold considered safe for lead exposure ( which the Environmental Protection Agency reports is zero ).

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned consumers about six brands of ground cinnamon found to contain excessive amounts of lead, and later expanded the warning to include additional cinnamon powders and cinnamon-containing products such as like packets of fruit puree. The FDA has asked distributors to voluntarily recall the affected products but cannot force them to be removed from stores.

Which spice powders contain high levels of lead?

According to Consumer Reports, the following powdered spices contain high levels of lead:

  • Cinnamon Powder Paras

  • EGN Cinnamon Powder

  • Mimi’s Products Ground Cinnamon

  • ShopRight Bowl and basket with ground cinnamon

  • Rani Brand Ground Cinnamon

  • Zara Foods Cinnamon Powder

  • Three Rivers Cinnamon Stick Powder

  • Yu Yee Brand Five Spice Powder

  • BaiLiFeng Five Spice Powder

  • Spicy King Five Spices Powder

  • Badia Cinnamon Powder

  • Deep Cinnamon Powder

Consumer Reports testing does not lead to an official recall, but Paras and EGN said they would require retailers to remove the cinnamon powder from shelves. Regardless of how manufacturers react, these spices should be discarded if you have them in your pantry.

Which cinnamon powders are safe to use?

While Consumer Reports has identified 12 cinnamon and cinnamon-containing spices that should be thrown out immediately, there are alternatives that are safe in amounts ranging from 1.5 to 16 teaspoons per day:

  • Sadaf Seven Spices

  • 365 Whole Grain Ground Cinnamon

  • Loyza Organic Cinnamon

  • Morten & Bassett San Francisco 100% Organic Ground Cinnamon

  • Sadaf Cinnamon Powder

  • 365 Whole Foods Market Organic Ground Cinnamon

Additionally, you can probably use smaller amounts—0.25 to 1 teaspoon depending on the brand—cinnamon and cinnamon-containing spice blends from Great Value, Penzeys, Ziyad Brand, Trader Joe’s, The Spice Lab, Good & Gather , Swad, Wei-Chuan, Natural Plus Green, Simply Organic, Shan, Abido Spices and McCormick.

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