March 7, 2024 – Through product testing, the FDA has determined that the ground cinnamon products listed in the table below contain elevated levels of lead and that prolonged exposure to these products may be unsafe.
The FDA is advising consumers to throw away and not to buy these ground cinnamon products. The FDA has recommended that the firms voluntarily recall these products, with the exception of the MTCI cinnamon. The FDA has been unable to reach MTCI to share our findings and request that the company initiate a recall. The FDA will update this notice with the communications from firms that voluntarily agree to recall as we receive them.Distributor Retailers Brand Names Lots/Codes Lead Concentration
(ppm)La Fiesta Food
ProductsLa Superior
SuperMercardoLa Fiesta 25033 2.73 Moran Foods, LLC Save A Lot Marcum Best By:
10/16/25 10DB
04/06/25 0400B1
3.20
2.90MTCI SF Supermarket MK No Codes 2.99 Raja Foods, LLC Patel Brothers Swad KX21223 2.12 Greenbriar Int’l Dollar Tree
Family DollarSupreme
TraditionBest By:
09/29/25 09E8
04/17/25 04E11
12/19/25 12C2
04/12/25 04ECB12
08/24/25 08A__
04/21/25 04E5
2025-09-22 09E20
3.37
2.26
2.03
2.34
3.14
3.12
3.13El Chilar La Joya
MarelenseEl Chilar F275EX1026
D300EX10243.40
2.93
Recommendations for consumers
- The FDA is advising consumers to stop using and dispose of these products.
- Consumers should not eat, sell, or serve ground cinnamon products listed in the table above and should discard them.
- These products have a long shelf life. Consumers should check their homes and discard these products.
- If there’s suspicion that someone has been exposed to elevated levels of lead, talk to your healthcare provider. Most people have no obvious immediate symptoms of lead exposure.
The FDA is advising consumers to throw away and not to buy the ground cinnamon products listed above because samples of these products were found to contain elevated levels of lead. Based on FDA’s assessment, prolonged exposure to these products may be unsafe and could contribute to elevated levels of lead in the blood. Long-term exposure (months to years) to elevated levels of lead in the diet could contribute to adverse health effects, particularly for the portion of the population that may already have elevated blood lead levels from other exposures to lead. No illnesses or adverse events have been reported to date in association with these products.
While the ground cinnamon products in this alert may not be a food targeted to young children, cinnamon is used in many foods young children consume. Consistent with the agency’s Closer to Zero initiative, which focuses on reducing childhood exposure to lead, the agency is recommending voluntary recall of the products listed above because prolonged exposure to the products may be unsafe. Removing the ground cinnamon products in this alert from the market will prevent them from contributing elevated amounts of lead to the diets of children.
