City health officials are sounding the alarm about lead poisoning that comes not from peeling paint but everyday foods and cosmetics.

The city Department of Health & Mental Hygiene announced a lead prevention awareness campaign—which will include flyers, trainings and outreach through community organizations—targeted specifically at South Asian immigrants, who are particularly at risk.

The rollout is part of LeadFreeNYC announced at North Central Bronx Hospital on Jan. 28 by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who pegged it as a roadmap to the “literal eradication” of childhood lead exposure. The initiative includes free blood lead level testing and lead inspections for every residential unit in the city.

A 2016 study by the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health found elevated blood lead levels in 20 percent of adults and 15 percent of children in the New York City South Asian community—more than four times the citywide rate. Lead poisoning can harm children’s physical and mental development and can cause miscarriages in pregnant women, as well as organ damage in all adults.

DOH officials said it will raise awareness about products used by the South Asian community—including spices, kohl (a thick, dark eyeliner) and sindoor (a red powder worn by brides)—which may have high levels of lead. Ayurvedic medicines, an ancient form of medical treatment with roots in India, is known to also have lead.

The existence of lead in products largely used by the South Asian community is not new. The FDA issued a recall on turmeric that contained lead in 2016, and New York City banned the sale of imported kohl in 2007.

In Norwood, home to a growing South Asian community, this informational campaign will likely have its work cut out.

“There’s not much awareness, there’s not much coverage in the newspaper or TV,” said Nafiul Hoque, a pharmacy specialist at ZamZam Pharmacy in Norwood. “I don’t know if people know about the dangers of lead or can even define what lead is.”

Many locals expressed shock when they heard that their everyday staples might be toxic. Taniya, 24, said she had not heard of the informational campaign about lead in consumer products, but regularly ate her mother’s food, spiced with turmeric and chili powder.

“We didn’t even think about whether there might be lead in them,” she said. “I just eat my mom’s food.”

To make matters more complicated, lead is tasteless and visually undetectable in products; only a lab test can detect it.

Lead is known to get into products by accident, be it during the manufacturing process, through the packaging, or if the soil in which the raw ingredients grow is contaminated. But manufacturers may also deliberately add it to products, believing lead to be a quality ingredient that can cure diseases. Manufacturers simply want to make products sold by weight a little heavier to increase their profits.

And the problem is bigger than South Asian products—bigger even than the host of imports from North Africa, West Asia, Southeast Asia, and Mexico that health officials have have issued warnings about in the past.

Cecil Corbin-Mark, deputy director of the Harlem-based nonprofit WE ACT for Environmental Justice, cautioned against describing imported products as the only dangerous and unsanitary items out there. He argued that lets unscrupulous manufacturers in America off the hook.

“This is not a problem limited to products made in China, India or the Dominican Republic,” Corbin-Mark said, citing the health risks that come from cleaning products or lipstick. “U.S. manufacturers are putting in toxic chemicals as well, and the first testing of these products is on the public. We’re the guinea pigs.”

What’s particular to immigrant communities and other marginalized people is simply that ill-intentioned manufacturers or suppliers can more easily get away with selling them unsafe products, Corbin-Mark said, adding that the city’s new initiative is a step in the right direction. Given the disparities in lead exposure, it’s important to make sure that immigrant communities and communities with English as a second language are protected,” he said.

But flyers and guidelines may not be enough to undo profit motives—or forces of habit.

“I know about that,” said the manager of a Bengali grocery store on Bainbridge Avenue when asked about the recall of products made by the Indian brand Swad. “But Swad is the most popular. And I myself only use Swad.”