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Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

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Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#13

Post by genewitch »

vasusen wrote: post #4

I grew up in India and now live in the US. My mom recently got some ground turmeric from our own farm when she visited us. I am was stunned by how much more duller, brownish-yellow it was compared to the turmeric I buy in Indian stores in the US. Those are usually really bright yellows. Now, I am really scared that even stuff sold in California is probably lead paint tainted turmeric.

article says "you can't tell when it's ground" - that is, specifically, they put lead chromate in the "buff" stage, so the roots look like they were dried properly.

In the same way that a lot of apples and the like will be buffed and then a soft wax coat applied so lots of apples are very shiny at the store.

if the turmeric is ground before sale i doubt there's any reason to use lead chromate.

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#14

Post by genewitch »

hoegarden wrote: post #12
genewitch wrote: post #11

There are other instances of lead poisoning and not all turmeric is poisoned.. Therefore everything is a lie?

There's been several turmeric related stories this past week (not here, but i've seen several elsewhere).

The title is "Turmeric is the culprit in a global lead poisoning ..."

That is editorializing. It is a lie. they found that some markets use lead chromate to improve the product's beauty before sale.

The title leads one to believe that all or even most turmeric has lead in it, which just isn't the case.

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#15

Post by jpmattia »

pfdietz wrote: post #5
loopdoend wrote: post #2

Wish there were some way to detect impurities like this at home.

Hand held x-ray fluorescence spectrometer?

And just like that, there was a mad rush of mass-spectrometer-for-home-use startups.

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#16

Post by prairieroadent »

there has to be a way for us as a society to introduce a level of accountability into our so called "food" supply chain without the burden of regulation... perhaps it's as simple as spending more educating our kids about agriculture

amendment: seems to be an unpopular take... my point being regulation is a workaround for a population that is worst than uneducated, miseducated, especially in regards to agriculture and "food" supply chain... if kids were provided with an actual education and not miseducated on the subject then the demand for on-demand food testing would go up, and prices for said testing would eventually go down after supply rises to meet demand increasing competition thus encouraging technological innovations to come in and lower prices

amendment ii: in a competitive market where all participants are thoroughly educated and the consumer is armed with the ability to test their food frequently then a market would likely emerge where consumers buy directly from farmers who out of market forces publish test alongside their crop

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#17

Post by hoegarden »

genewitch wrote: post #14
hoegarden wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are other instances of lead poisoning and not all turmeric is poisoned.. Therefore everything is a lie?

There's been several turmeric related stories this past week (not here, but i've seen several elsewhere). The title is "Turmeric is the culprit in a global lead poisoning ..." That is editorializing. It is a lie. they found that some markets use lead chromate to improve the product's beauty before sale. The title leads one to believe that all or even most turmeric has lead in it, which just isn't the case.

You can find links on this site going back years to the fact that adulterating turmeric is a common thing if you think you can get away with it and many think they can even do that on exports.

I'm so sorry you aren't a child in a middle income country?

Most children can be poisoned eventually by a food contamination even if only some percentage of the food is contaminated because most childhoods are years long and most parents don't procure exactly the same supplies..

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#18

Post by ashwinsundar »

You can buy dried whole turmeric at Indian stores. Take it home and grind it to powder in a magic bullet. Based on the article, it's harder to hide the bright yellow lead chromate coloring when it's used on whole turmeric, versus ground turmeric.

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#19

Post by pirate787 »

prairieroadent wrote: post #16

there has to be a way for us as a society to introduce a level of accountability into our so called "food" supply chain without the burden of regulation... perhaps it's as simple as spending more educating our kids about agriculture amendment: seems to be an unpopular take... my point being regulation is a workaround for a population that is worst than uneducated, miseducated, especially in regards to agriculture and…

I support oversight with subscriptions to Consumer Reports and Consumer Labs. I do think government must play a role-- rather than regulate, just regularly test everything and publish the results and ban/recall unsafe products.
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