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Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

consumerreports.org

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Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#21

Post by Eelongate »

malwarebytess wrote: post #16
Eelongate wrote: post #3

> CONSUMER REPORTS tested 126 herbs and spices from 38 brands for arsenic, cadmium, and lead. (We did not test spices that tend to be used in baking, such as cinnamon and nutmeg.) We tested two or three samples from different lots of each product. This testing is frustratingly sparse, couldn't they find garlic powder in Trader Joe's? They're missing many brands for many of these spices. And I don't think you can bake…

>What am I supposed to do? Nothing, probably. Heavy metals come from natural sources in the ground as well as from the air which then settles into the topsoil. They also come from decades old insecticides/pesticides or old infrastructure left to rot on farms. Cadmium and arsenic in particular are among the most abundant substances on the Earth. Every bit of food you eat likely has them both. If you are worried and wa…

It's not just a matter of heavy metals in the soil getting accidentally sucked up by the plants. From this PDF linked from the article: http://article.images.consumerreports.org/prod/content/dam/s...

> In addition, we investigated possible adulteration, specifically the addition of bulking and/or coloring agents, in four of the 15 spices that are commonly adulterated in these ways.

So at least in some of the cases, deliberate adulteration with heavy metal containing dyes/etc is a real possibility. This should be (probably is?) a criminal matter but it seems the FDA isn't particularly concerned about it. This disturbs me.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#22

Post by [deleted] »

malwarebytess wrote: post #16
Eelongate wrote: post #3

> CONSUMER REPORTS tested 126 herbs and spices from 38 brands for arsenic, cadmium, and lead. (We did not test spices that tend to be used in baking, such as cinnamon and nutmeg.) We tested two or three samples from different lots of each product. This testing is frustratingly sparse, couldn't they find garlic powder in Trader Joe's? They're missing many brands for many of these spices. And I don't think you can bake…

>What am I supposed to do? Nothing, probably. Heavy metals come from natural sources in the ground as well as from the air which then settles into the topsoil. They also come from decades old insecticides/pesticides or old infrastructure left to rot on farms. Cadmium and arsenic in particular are among the most abundant substances on the Earth. Every bit of food you eat likely has them both. If you are worried and wa…

[deleted]

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#23

Post by mattmoose21 »

christophilus wrote: post #17
throwaway984393 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The good news is both of them are easy to grow indoors or outdoors, and they're perennial. Perennial herbs include rosemary, lavender, marjoram, tarragon, sage, mint, parsely, lemon balm, chives, sorrel, yarrow, chicory, savory, bay laurel, lovage, hyssop, anise, chamomile, bergamot, alfalfa, clover... the list goes on. You can use them fresh, or make your own dried herbs. On top of that, variants of thyme work as a…

Do you have a recommended place to get those? Also, I’ve got clay soil here, and thyme has never done well for me. I’d love to replace swaths of my lawn with it, as I really like it’s appearance and fragrance, so any link to those varieties would be much appreciated.

I’ve been looking at doing something similar and the best advice I’ve found is from a local agricultural school and some local businesses that supply native plants in your area.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#24

Post by OneLeggedCat »

Eelongate wrote: post #3

> CONSUMER REPORTS tested 126 herbs and spices from 38 brands for arsenic, cadmium, and lead. (We did not test spices that tend to be used in baking, such as cinnamon and nutmeg.) We tested two or three samples from different lots of each product. This testing is frustratingly sparse, couldn't they find garlic powder in Trader Joe's? They're missing many brands for many of these spices. And I don't think you can bake…

> This testing is frustratingly sparse

A very common problem with Consumer Reports. Very. They also never make that shitty data's origins easily available for critique.

I have subscribed to them for over twenty years. This has always been a problem with them. Good intentions (that's my belief), but poor statistical execution and evidence.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#25

Post by throwaway984393 »

christophilus wrote: post #17
throwaway984393 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The good news is both of them are easy to grow indoors or outdoors, and they're perennial. Perennial herbs include rosemary, lavender, marjoram, tarragon, sage, mint, parsely, lemon balm, chives, sorrel, yarrow, chicory, savory, bay laurel, lovage, hyssop, anise, chamomile, bergamot, alfalfa, clover... the list goes on. You can use them fresh, or make your own dried herbs. On top of that, variants of thyme work as a…

Do you have a recommended place to get those? Also, I’ve got clay soil here, and thyme has never done well for me. I’d love to replace swaths of my lawn with it, as I really like it’s appearance and fragrance, so any link to those varieties would be much appreciated.

Clay soil's definitely not gonna work for thyme, it's way too wet and nutrient-dense. You could try double-digging to remediate it, but that could possibly lead to other issues.

Here's some links I found for ground cover plants good for clay: https://gardening.stackexchange.com/a/7665 https://gardentabs.com/ground-cover-plants-for-clay-soil/

As for where to get stuff, search for plant nurseries near you. They may not be tech-savvy so you might have to use the old-fashioned technique of wandering around and asking people (anyone who works in dirt: farmers, gardeners/landscapers, contractors). They will know your local environment and what works best for it and can order plants and seeds for you.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#26

Post by code_duck »

Eelongate wrote: post #3

> CONSUMER REPORTS tested 126 herbs and spices from 38 brands for arsenic, cadmium, and lead. (We did not test spices that tend to be used in baking, such as cinnamon and nutmeg.) We tested two or three samples from different lots of each product. This testing is frustratingly sparse, couldn't they find garlic powder in Trader Joe's? They're missing many brands for many of these spices. And I don't think you can bake…

You can grow your own (assuming you can find clean soil…). I harvested enough oregano this year to last months.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#27

Post by oasisbob »

_abox wrote: post #13

> In 31 products, levels of lead were so high that they exceeded the maximum amount anyone should have in a day, according to CR’s experts. Uhh there is no amount of lead anyone should have in a day. It's cumulative and harmful and we don't need it for anything. > Think twice about bringing back herbs and spices from travel abroad. Heavy metal content can be much higher in those products, according to other research.…

> Uhh there is no amount of lead anyone should have in a day

That's very easy to say, but it's another thing to require that products with lead above the level of detection should be kept from markets and destroyed.

Start clearing products with any detectable heavy metal content, and you'll start clearing shelves.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#28

Post by doitLP »

I hate this. I’m up to my eyeballs trying to keep my newborn away from all the toxic shit that’s in every part of his life, BP* in plastics, flame retardants in clothes and mattresses and rugs, heavy metals in baby food and now in herbs, micro plastics in food, radioactivity and mercury in farmland around coal fired power plants, etc etc etc.

The negative externalities on dangerous chemicals is so very high; what am I supposed to do, test my fucking pepper? The burden of safety is squarely on the consumer after it’s already too late to prevent. I don’t know what to do anymore. At this point it’s safe to assume he is ingesting poisons that affect child organ and brain development in everything.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#29

Post by oasisbob »

Eelongate wrote: post #3

> CONSUMER REPORTS tested 126 herbs and spices from 38 brands for arsenic, cadmium, and lead. (We did not test spices that tend to be used in baking, such as cinnamon and nutmeg.) We tested two or three samples from different lots of each product. This testing is frustratingly sparse, couldn't they find garlic powder in Trader Joe's? They're missing many brands for many of these spices. And I don't think you can bake…

I find it frustrating that they didn't test many foreign brands, but recommend against import nonetheless.

Laxmi Turmeric is the one Indian (for import) spice brand I recognize on the list. Testing Devi, and the other common import brands, as well as true desi brands would have been interesting.

"Curry powder" is a weird one to test. Might as well compare Italian blends as well.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#30

Post by dylan604 »

Aardwolf wrote: post #7
jobe_br wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty easy to grow your own, from seed even, but most plant nurseries will have these in their herb section.

Any risk of getting those elements in them if you grow them yourself, through the soil, water, fertilizer, products or the seeds?

what about hydroponics
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