Aug. 26, 2024 – The FDA announced an updated recall of Great Value apple juice sold at Walmart amid arsenic concerns, giving the recall a more urgent classification on Friday.
The new classification described the risk of serious problems after drinking the recalled juice as “remote” but still posing the potential for “temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences.”
The products were sold in 25 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and the FDA reported that the recall was voluntarily started by the product’s distributor, Florida-based Refresco Beverages U.S. Inc., noting that the firm has so far not issued any news release regarding the recall. Nearly 10,000 cases of apple juice are impacted.
The six-packs of plastic 8-ounce bottles have a “best if used by” date that reads “DEC2824 CT89-6,” and the Universal Product Code (UPC) is 0-78742-29655-5.
Arsenic is naturally in the environment and is also introduced through human activities, like the use of arsenic-containing pesticides or during food processing. Arsenic is toxic to people of any age, but babies and children are particularly at risk for health problems due to arsenic exposure because they have smaller bodies that are growing and having rapid metabolism. Arsenic exposure in children has been linked to learning disabilities, behavior problems, and impacts on intelligence.
The FDA routinely monitors apple juice products for arsenic because it “is a greater potential source of dietary inorganic arsenic exposure for children than for adults, because children’s dietary patterns are often less varied than those of adults, and they consume more apple juice relative to their body weight than do adults,” the agency explains in its latest industry guidelines.
Inorganic arsenic consumption has been linked to cancer, skin lesions, issues with the heart and blood vessels, diabetes, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
“The health and safety of our customers is always a top priority. We have removed this product from our impacted stores and are working with the supplier to investigate,” a Walmart spokesperson told The Associated Press in a statement.
