Bentonville, Arkansas. – Walmart is recalling nearly 10,000 bottles of apple juice owing to potentially hazardous arsenic levels, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The recall affects Great Value brand apple juice sold in six-packs of 8-ounce bottles. The recall was initiated on August 15, but the FDA upgraded it to a more urgent risk category (Class II) on Friday.
The FDA issues Class II recalls when a product may produce transitory adverse health effects that are unlikely to lead to major medical problems.
The recalled juices bear the UPC 0-78742-29655-5 and a “best if used by” date of December 28, 2024.
They were sold in Walmart stores in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The FDA stated that the juices have arsenic levels of 13.2 parts per billion. Last year, the FDA released recommendations for apple juice, stating that it should not include more than 10 parts per billion.
What is arsenic?
The FDA states that arsenic, a naturally occurring mineral, can be hazardous to humans. The government said that the danger of long-term negative health impacts from eating arsenic-contaminated food is determined by some factors, including the arsenic level in the food, the consumer’s age, and the frequency of exposure.
Most food products have very low quantities of both inorganic and organic arsenic, according to the National Institutes of Health. Testing is common since slightly high levels of either form might induce symptoms such as nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, numbness, and muscle cramps.
According to the FDA, inorganic arsenic is more harmful to humans than the naturally occurring form of the mineral arsenic, and exposure causes more severe health impacts. The Environmental Protection Agency has classified inorganic arsenic as a carcinogen or a material that causes cancer.
The levels identified in the recalled apple juice bottles are so low that the FDA does not expect them to have such serious health repercussions.
