August 26, 2024 – The FDA announced an updated recall of “Great Value” apple juice sold at Walmart arsenic concerns, making Friday's recall more urgent.
The latest classification described the chance of great problems after drinking the recalled juice as “minor” but still carries the potential for “temporary or medically reversible adverse health effects.”
The products have been sold 25 statesin addition to Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and the FDA reported that the recall was voluntarily initiated by the product's distributor, Florida-based Refresco Beverages US Inc., noting that the corporate has not yet issued a press release regarding the recall . Almost 10,000 boxes of apple juice are affected.
The six-packs of 8-ounce plastic bottles have a best-before date marked “DEC2824 CT89-6” and the Universal Product Code (UPC) is 0-78742-29655-5.
Arsenic occurs naturally within the environment and can be introduced through human activities, equivalent to the usage of pesticides containing arsenic or during food processing. Arsenic is toxic to people of all ages, but babies and kids are particularly vulnerable to health problems resulting from arsenic exposure because they've smaller bodies, growth and fast metabolisms. Arsenic exposure in children has been linked to learning difficulties, behavioral problems and effects on intelligence.
The FDA routinely monitors apple juice products for arsenic since it “represents a greater potential source of exposure to dietary inorganic arsenic in children than in adults because children's dietary habits are often less varied than those of adults and they are compared to them consume more apple juice than adults,” explains the agency in its latest publication Industry guidelines.
Consumption of inorganic arsenic has been linked to cancer, skin lesions, heart and vascular problems, diabetes and antagonistic pregnancy outcomes.
“The health and safety of our customers is always our top priority. “We have removed this product from our affected stores and are working with the supplier to investigate,” a Walmart spokesperson said The Associated Press in a press release.