Hazardous Materials Programs

LEADED BEAN POTS REMOVED FROM STORE SHELVES

In October 2009, Lead Awareness Month, ceramic pots containing lead were pulled from shelves of Food Maxx stores in California. Community Health Worker Ana Villalobos of the County's Lead Poisoning Prevention Project (LPPP) had seen these pots used for cooking beans during her home visits. In the past these bean pots had been linked to childhood lead poisoning cases. Ana had swiped a Lead Check swab inside the cooking pot and it indicated positive for the presence of surface lead. The source of the lead is usually the glaze on the pottery used to enhance the color vibrancy of the painted designs. The pots found in the two homes Ana visited were said to have been bought from a Food Maxx store.

Ana and LPPP manager Joanne Genet brought the pots to the attention of Hazardous Materials Specialists Scott Hanson and Tod Hickman of the Hazardous Materials Programs. An investigation by Haz Mat lead to these "lead free" pots from the Food Maxx stores testing positive for lead.

Haz Mat and LPPP presented their findings to the County District Attorney's Office and the California Department of Public Health, Lead Branch. Realizing that the public health threat had to be addressed immediately Tod and Specialist Trisha Asuncion visited all of the Food Maxx stores in the County and asked store management to remove the pots from the shelves. Currently, several state agencies, and possibly federal, are conducting a further investigation on the importer and the extent of the pots' distribution. Save Mart, owner of Food Maxx, has only been cooperative.

Haz Mat and LPPP staffers received the Health Department's Service Excellence Award in January 2010 for their investigative work and the pots' subsequent removal from store shelves.