Findings and scope
The Southern Nevada Health District investigated a boy aged 2 years with a venous blood lead level of 48 µg/dL and his cousin aged 9 months, in a separate household, with 11 µg/dL (PDF p.1). Both families had immigrated from Afghanistan. Home lead-risk assessments by X-ray fluorescence flagged crockery, a meat grinder, floor tile and spices, and an accredited laboratory measured lead in the spices by atomic absorption spectroscopy.
Turmeric from the first home, bought at a local market, contained 2,000 mg/kg lead, and a rice seasoning spice from the same home contained 0.6 mg/kg (PDF p.1). In the second home, turmeric imported from Afghanistan contained 15,000 mg/kg and turmeric from the same local market contained 3,000 mg/kg. Additional samples later obtained from the market had no detectable lead. The report concludes that the findings support other reports of lead-contaminated turmeric in the United States.
Key numbers
Lead as printed in the report text (PDF p.1), mg/kg; basis and sample number not stated.
Venous blood lead levels at identification were 48 µg/dL (child A), 11 µg/dL (child B), 49 µg/dL (child A’s father) and 13 µg/dL (child B’s sister). After chelation, child A’s level was 18 µg/dL in April 2019 and 9 µg/dL by December; child B and her sister had declined to 3 µg/dL by September (PDF p.1).
Methods and Evidence Fitness
This is a public health field investigation of two households. Surfaces and objects were screened with calibrated Niton X-ray fluorescence analyzers, and spice samples were analysed by atomic absorption spectroscopy; the report names a laboratory accredited by the National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program for the first home’s samples and the follow-up market samples (PDF p.1). The report does not state the number of samples analysed per product, the sample preparation, the measurement basis, the detection limit or any quality-control result.
Evidence Fitness is Modeled or limited evidence. The concentrations are laboratory results from an agency investigation and support the finding that the household turmeric carried very high lead. They come from a handful of case-driven samples whose origin was partly unknown, so they cannot describe typical lead in turmeric. Blood lead values are clinical context, not food concentrations.
Assessment limits
The local-market turmeric had been removed from its original packaging, so product origin and lot number were unavailable (PDF p.1). The type and number of the follow-up market samples are not stated, so their non-detect result cannot be assigned to turmeric specifically. The report cites adulteration of turmeric with lead to enhance weight and colour elsewhere, but it reports no chromium or pigment analysis for these samples (PDF p.2). Other household sources, including crockery, were also identified as lead hazards, and the report does not apportion exposure between them.
Provenance notes
The PDF (2 pages, MMWR pages 1584 to 1585) was delivered in batch 04 of order HMI-GAP-INGEST-1 on 22 October 2026. The SHA-256 matches the batch manifest. The title matches the manifest. The PDF does not print its own DOI; the manifest DOI 10.15585/mmwr.mm7045a4 is consistent with the printed issue (Vol. 70, No. 45, November 12, 2021) but was not confirmed against Crossref, as no network calls were made.
Related evidence
- Turmeric
- Spices
- Spices
- Lead
- Lead in Spices, Herbal Remedies, and Ceremonial Powders Sampled from Home Investigations for Children with Elevated Blood Lead Levels — North Carolina, 2011–2018
Update history
22 October 2026: Ingested from the batch-04 PDF. 13 spice and blood lead records were added to the evidence register.
Update history
No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.