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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)

#81

Post by Amezarak »

OJFord wrote: post #36
ashwinsundar wrote: post #18

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.

Article explicitly says it was being added to the whole root during buffing, before grinding. It doesn't seem like something people need to worry about buying it at shops abroad imported properly though - when it was found in the US it was people bringing it home in their luggage.

It can definitely make it into US food.

https://www.cdc.gov/lead-prevention/news/outbreak-applesauce...

There's an example of lead poisoning from cinnamon, another common problem spice. IIRC it was traced to a factory in Argentina.

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

#83

Post by Aloisius »

hbarka wrote: post #65

Why do food producers need to do these fake coloring schemes? They are poisoning the well. In this day and age these ugly practices of the past are discoverable. I don’t care for ugly colors if the tradeoff is toxicity.

It was explained in the article.

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

#84

Post by pengaru »

pengaru wrote: post #32
genewitch wrote: post #11

> if this was an issue we'd have known about it before now. High-larious. TFA is dated 2024, and I've been reading reports about this practice far longer than that.

"Lead in Spices, Herbal Remedies, and Ceremonial Powders Sampled from Home Investigations for Children with Elevated Blood Lead Levels — North Carolina, 2011–2018" [2018]

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6289082/

"Researchers find lead in turmeric" [2019]

https://phys.org/news/2019-09-turmeric.html

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

#85

Post by a123b456c »

Amezarak wrote: post #76
phendrenad2 wrote: post #57

I think this NPR article is too quick to put a positive spin on this. They have made a nice little story here with a happy ending. Farmers had blackened turmeric -> they used a random yellow die they found -> massive lead spike in everyone's bloodstream -> Americans came in with a xray gun and saved the day -> no more lead in the blood. But if you ascribe even the slightest but of agency to any of the non-Americans i…

I don't think the NPR reporter is deliberately spinning the story. I think a lot of people don't really believe that other people are really different from them. The reporter would never knowingly poison people for money, so it's not comprehensible to them that lots of people in the world just don't care whether they do or not. The only reason in their minds that people would do such a thing are economic desperation…

I have numerous experiences being quoted by NPR reporters. I have regularly observed them to deliberately frame stories to interest their audience (as I believe they should). In this case, if the reporter claims poisoning without sufficient evidence, the reporter and their employer will be attacked. If the reporter provides no plausible explanation, the story will be found wanting.

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

#86

Post by dboreham »

hbarka wrote: post #65

Why do food producers need to do these fake coloring schemes? They are poisoning the well. In this day and age these ugly practices of the past are discoverable. I don’t care for ugly colors if the tradeoff is toxicity.

Because money.

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

#87

Post by eitally »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #57

I think this NPR article is too quick to put a positive spin on this. They have made a nice little story here with a happy ending. Farmers had blackened turmeric -> they used a random yellow die they found -> massive lead spike in everyone's bloodstream -> Americans came in with a xray gun and saved the day -> no more lead in the blood. But if you ascribe even the slightest but of agency to any of the non-Americans i…

Indeed. It reminds me very much of this ("toxic tofu" in Indonesia):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPyRAcdZHDo https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/world/asia/indonesia-tofu...

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

#88

Post by markhahn »

zargon wrote: post #37
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.

Burlap and Barrel tests their turmeric for lead and publishes the results. It’s a lot more expensive than Indian store turmeric, but personally I’m no longer willing to buy untested turmeric. (Relatedly, Lundberg publishes the arsenic levels of their brown rice, so that’s basically the only brand of rice I buy any more.)

isn't arsenic in rice trivial to deal with ("pasta" method)?

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

#89

Post by hombre_fatal »

SoftTalker wrote: post #61
downrightmike wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FDA and USDA are supposed to do that. It has to be government lead, because we know business will cheat

But government won't cheat?

If a business is going to get away with cheating, it seems better that they also need a corrupt government in bed with them rather than just another corrupt business.

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

#90

Post by markhahn »

prairieroadent wrote: post #64
padjo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So rather than have government do the testing and holding producers to account we get every consumer to do it? That sounds pretty inefficient.

I imagine that in a competitive market where the participants are educated that the farmers would publish tests alongside their crop and the educated consumer would understand that they should be buying direct from farmers and be processing the turmeric themselves

it's not about education, but rather attention. how much of your finite attention do you want to spend on extra things? most people already operate under extreme attention-scarcity.
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