Cinnamon, the star of pillowy cinnamon rolls and anything apple-based, seems like an innocent spice, but it can potentially be lethal. It has a distinct bold flavor that's both hard to explain and to replicate, but there's one ingredient that has nothing to do with taste - lead. Apparently some ground cinnamon products in the U.S. have been found to contain the heavy metal.
Welcome to Deep Dish, a weekly roundup of food and entertainment news. Last week we discussed Asahi's cyber attack and beer shortage. A mere two weeks ago, Sam and I downed every flavor of Starbucks' new protein-laden cold foam in the interest of on-the-ground journalism. Apparently, there's a non-negligible chance that, in doing so, we may have ingested lead-per a recent Consumer Reports report, which found that many protein powders and shakes contain the toxic metal.
You can never have too much of a good thing, the saying goes. For months now, Americans treated protein that way. What started as a fringe supplement used mostly by "gym bros and fitness-obsessed teens," as Consumer Reports journalist Paris Martineau put it, has transformed into a full-blown mass-market wellness movement. There's protein pastas, protein cereals, protein sodas, and even Starbucks protein cold foam.
The FDA has been cracking down on lead contaminants in food, and back in December of 2024, the FDA issued a letter to retailers and distributors selling cookware in the United States, stating that some products being imported into the country were at risk of leaching lead. The agency specifically said that cookware made from alloys called Hindalium/Hindolium or Indalium/Indolium had been shown to leach lead in tests it had conducted.
Emails and memos circulating last summer expose a total communication breakdown inside Oakland's public school system, with principals in the dark about the risks to students and district officials unclear on the status of remediation.
In the Eaton burn scar, around 27% of soil samples still had lead levels above California's state standards for residential properties, indicating ongoing contamination risks.
Lead is a heavy metal linked to serious health problems including damage to the brain and nervous system, as well as digestive, reproductive and cardiovascular issues.
