Cinnamon Sold at Dollar Tree Allegedly Contains Lead

A New York woman has filed a class action lawsuit against Dollar Tree and its cinnamon supplier, Colonna Brothers, alleging they sold spice contaminated with lead.

The lawsuit comes after the FDA issued a lead warning about certain cinnamon products and Colonna Brothers voluntarily recalled Supreme Tradition cinnamon due to high lead levels. It proposes a nationwide class and a New York subclass and asserts damages based on violations of New York’s false advertising laws.

Anyone who purchased Supreme Tradition ground cinnamon may be eligible to join this lawsuit as a class member.

FDA Warns About Lead in Cinnamon

Earlier this year, in response to an October 2023 recall of cinnamon-flavored applesauce linked to lead poisoning in children, the FDA conducted a lead analysis of ground cinnamon products, including Supreme Tradition cinnamon manufactured and distributed by Colonna Brothers of North Bergen, New Jersey.

FDA’s testing found lead concentrations between 2.03 and 3.37 parts per million in Supreme Tradition cinnamon—an amount hundreds of times higher than its action levels for lead contamination.

Exposure to these specific cinnamon products that were found to have elevated levels of lead could contribute to adverse health effects.

Based on these findings, FDA warned consumers to avoid the product and recommended a voluntary manufacturer recall. Colonna Brothers complied and published a recall notice on March 6, 2024. The following lot codes of 2.25 oz. Supreme Tradition ground cinnamon are affected:

• 09/29/25 09E8
• 04/17/25 04E11
• 12/19/25 12C2
• 04/12/25 04ECB12
• 08/24/25 08A
• 04/21/25 04E5
• 09/22/2025 09E20

According to the recall notice, “The FDA is stating that the lot codes above contain elevated levels of lead that the FDA deems a potential health risk.”

FDA is uncertain how the cinnamon products became contaminated with lead. Lead can enter the food supply from the environment as well as through processing and manufacturing.

Lead Dangers

Conrad Choiniere, Acting Deputy Center Director for Regulatory Affairs at the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), said in a statement that, “Based on FDA’s assessment, prolonged, ongoing exposure to these specific cinnamon products that were found to have elevated levels of lead could contribute to adverse health effects.”

Lead is a highly toxic metal associated with numerous health effects. It is particularly dangerous to unborn babies, infants, and children, but EPA says there is no safe level of lead exposure for anyone.

Colonna Brothers acknowledges in its recall that lead exposure is associated with permanent central nervous system damage, learning disorders, and developmental defects in children, and kidney dysfunction, hypertension, and neurocognitive effects in adults.

Lead is also linked to reproductive problems in both men and women, high blood pressure, nerve disorders, memory and concentration issues, muscle and joint pain, hearing problems, headaches, and other health problems, EPA reports.

Lawsuit Claims and Proposed Classes

Supreme Tradition ground cinnamon 2.25 oz. was distributed nationwide through retail stores, including at Dollar Tree, which owns the Supreme Tradition name and contracts with Colonna to manufacture and distribute Supreme Tradition spices.

Plaintiff Donna Bell claims in her lawsuit that she purchased Supreme Tradition ground cinnamon in March 2024 at a Dollar Tree store in the Bronx, New York. She alleges that neither company disclosed the lead contamination and that she wouldn’t have bought the product if she had known.

Defendants’ advertising and labeling was an unfair, untrue, and misleading practice.

Bell asserts violations of New York General Business Laws, arguing that the product’s labeling is misleading to consumers.

“Defendants chose to label the product in this way to impact consumer choices and gain market dominance, as they are aware that all consumers who purchased the product would be unwilling or less likely to buy the product if those consumers knew the product contained lead,” Bell said in the complaint. “Thus, defendants’ advertising and labeling was an unfair, untrue, and misleading practice.”

Bell’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages on behalf of herself and these defined consumer classes:

• National Class: All persons who purchased Supreme Tradition Ground Cinnamon for personal use and not for resale in the United States.
• New York Subclass: All persons who purchased Supreme Tradition Ground Cinnamon for their personal use and not for resale in the State of New York.

Milberg’s Russell Busch, Nick Suciu, Trenton Kashima, and Luis Cardona are representing Bell and the class members.

Last month, Milberg filed a class action lawsuit over the lead content of Lunchables. The firm has been among the most active class action laws firms in the country over the last three years, filing 892 cases from 2021 – 2023.

Since 1965 Milberg has filed thousands of class action lawsuits, recovered billions of dollars for our clients, and grown into a powerful force for consumer protection.