71–80 of 217 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an ABCD, likewise. My mom told me to specifically buy turmeric at western grocery stores (as opposed to other spices, which could be had for better prices at Indian grocery stores) because of concerns around lead.
tbf lead testing is pretty standard in Indian spice brands for a long time now, though for some reason the brands don't really advertise it. Reputable brands like MDH and Everest would be pretty safe.
I'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at home tests. After turmeric…
As an ABCD, likewise. My mom told me to specifically buy turmeric at western grocery stores (as opposed to other spices, which could be had for better prices at Indian grocery stores) because of concerns around lead.
I'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at home tests. After turmeric…
You sometimes still see mustard advertised as "argemone-free". To think that some people in the US voluntarily drink yellowroot tea because apparently it helps with diabetes is scary - the chemical similiarity between sanguinarine in argemone and berberine in yellowroot is just too great for it to be a good idea.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a lack of forthrightness in publishing a stock photo without a disclaimer. "Lack of forthrightness" is an anti-signal. Stock photography on a commercial website is an anti-signal.
> Stock photography on a commercial website is an anti-signal Where do you expect stock photography to be used? Only in mock-ups and design pitches?
As if something's existence alone justifies its (mis)use...
I'm reminded of the Invader Zim Hamstergeddon episode when the tanks arrive and one of the soldiers shouts "We've gotta use this stuff on something!"
I'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at home tests. After turmeric…
inadvertent contamination with Argemone plants growing in mustard fields You sometimes still see mustard advertised as "argemone-free". To think that some people in the US voluntarily drink yellowroot tea because apparently it helps with diabetes is scary - the chemical similiarity between sanguinarine in argemone and berberine in yellowroot is just too great for it to be a good idea.
Not saying it has 0 relevance, but I wouldn't take it to mean much on its own. It's like people being scared of mercury dental fillings because "it has mercury in it, which is poisonous." That doesn't follow.
I'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at home tests. After turmeric…
inadvertent contamination with Argemone plants growing in mustard fields You sometimes still see mustard advertised as "argemone-free". To think that some people in the US voluntarily drink yellowroot tea because apparently it helps with diabetes is scary - the chemical similiarity between sanguinarine in argemone and berberine in yellowroot is just too great for it to be a good idea.
This was a response to the 1998 outbreak. I remember in the early days it was suggested the culprit was argemone poisoning, and honestly that's what I thought it was all this time. Wikipedia suggests it was adulteration with white petroleum.
See also "Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United States": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415259/ The problem with lead in tumeric seems to extend beyond Bangladesh.
Yikes. Are their any trustworthy, mainstream sources of spices in the U.S.? E.g., if I buy turmeric from Walmart or Whole Foods, can I safely assume that they're monitoring the product streams for lead? EDIT: I just saw a sibling comment about a company named "American Turmeric". I'm curious about more mainstream sellers, who might possibly monitor other spices as well. I'd prefer to not play whack-a-mole on a spice-…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reminds me of how scurvy was apparently well known in the age of sail but sort of forgotten with the industrial revolution. It showed back up again in Arctic expeditions from what I understand.
I don't recall where the the Arctic expeditions slot into this saga, but for ages we understood the lemon link but we hadn't identified Vitamin C yet. So there was a moment in time where the British Royal Navy was carrying around concentrated lime juice to fight scurvy (hence, Limey). Only the vendor that made the lime juice processed it in copper vessels, destroying most of the vitamin C. It doesn't take much vitami…
However, since the switch corresponded to the rise of steam power (ship trips were much faster), nobody noticed that that they weren't protected from scurvy anymore.
It wasn't until the artic expeditions that scurvy protection got tested again.
I'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at home tests. After turmeric…