Imported US sweets with illegal ingredients seized

stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to News@lemmy.world – 299 points – Imported US sweets with illegal ingredients seized
bbc.com

Jolly Ranchers and Mountain Dew are advertised on TikTok and Instagram but contain products banned in the UK.

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Sorry, Brits. You can't have our unhealthy food. That's American food for American stomachs!

Honestly I've never realized before that from that low-quarter-view, the eagles actually look kinda cute and friendly, not intimidating like from the side or ridiculous like from the front.

Have you ever heard a Golden eagle call? They hae a weak thin call, like a seagull. This isn't macho enough for the US, so they always play a different call on films, that of a hawk!

It's the eye socket and positioning. You can kind of see the pocket created by their "brow" in that picture, but we see them as intimidating or what have you, because we are trying to interpret facial expressions as language.

And they're saying they can make it without the shitty ingredients, they don't wanna if they don't have to.

The manufacturers of Lemonheads, Starburst Gummies, Hershey's and Jolly Ranchers told the BBC their products were produced legally in the USA and that any products being sold in the UK were being done so illegally, and not associated with their brands.

And they’re saying they can make it without the shitty ingredients, they don’t wanna if they don’t have to

? That's not what they're saying. They're saying that the shitty ingredients are legal in the US.

Jolly Ranchers hard candy has mineral oil in them.

Most often, mineral oil is a liquid obtained from refining crude oil to make gasoline and other petroleum products ... like a liquid version of petroleum jelly. Source

And America allows companies to sell this shit.

AFAIK mineral oil and petroleum jelly are considered food safe. In the food industry they are used as lubricant on machinery that comes into contact with food (like meat slicers or even soda machines). Petroleum jelly is also found in a lot of skin care products, like Vasoline, vapo-rub, makeup -removing cream, and is also used in lip balm.

That being said, oil & gas extraction has and is wreaking havoc on our environment and health. So, while these products may be safe for human contact, they have a cost.

The UK doesn't deem them safe for human consumption tho, because they err on the side of caution instead of allowing big oil and/or corps to do what they want.

instead of allowing big oil and/or corps to do what they want.

Yes only the peers are allowed to do that.

i actually can't find this being true anywhere.

the uk afaik calls it liquid parrafin and sell it at drug stores

From the article ...

They included Jolly Ranchers hard sweets containing mineral oil, which if contaminated with other compounds can initiate cancer formations.

Still not illegal in the UK?

Also google the things that cause cancer. Anything causes cancer because cancer is just something DNA does. I understand the fear of it and you should avoid things that cause it but your eyeballs aren't gonna melt.

The sun causes cancer, sunscreen causes cancer, not enough sun probably causes cancer.

You're gonna die one day my friend but it won't be because of mineral oil.

I've added the previous paragraph.

If you need more info please read the article.

In one raid in Burton-upon-Trent, over £300 worth of banned confectionary was found in a local corner shop.

They included Jolly Ranchers hard sweets containing mineral oil, which if contaminated with other compounds can initiate cancer formations.

Okay but no UK laws I find list mineral oil as banned. It is liquid parrafin, you can buy that in the UK.

In the U.S. it is commonly found in phamacies and sold as a laxative. It is excellent for cutting boards and wooden spoons since it does not go rancid. It is usually the only approved oil/grease to use on food processing equipment. Commercial and home espresso machines use it to lubricate seals and gaskets.

Unrelated: it is great for rejuvenating Bakelite

If everything around us and inside us isn't somehow related to the oil industry, we Americans would wither and die immediately. Don't you know?

Serious answer though: The FDA is slow, inefficient, and likely paid off from banning chemicals, but every once in a blue they do. States like California take a more proactive role in banning chemicals, and since California has an economy larger than some nations, they tend to have a lot of pull, so all is not lost. America is more like the EU these days than a cohesive nation. Some states are cool, some are ok, some are Texas...but...yeah, we really suck as a whole.

Santa Cruz California is built around a old Mercury mine with literal Mercury red rocks just being normal rocks all around the city

Nature is cancerous for the uneducated

Not sure about all that as mercury is a liquid at room temperature and I'm unfamiliar with the history of Santa Cruz, but I wasn't necessarily trying to say California was a guardian of the future. Just that, in this example, they're large enough in economies of scale that occasionally their decisions have enough weight to help others elsewhere, and that US states sometimes are able to effect improvement via this scale that the US Federal government is incapable of due to it's Star Warsian ineptitude. Much like how the EU is forcing the Apples of the world to embrace standards like USB-C. Also most of Silicon Valley is basically a giant superfund site, so they got a lot of 'splainin to do.

Deregulation, baby! 🇺🇸🦅

That reddish-black stuff you’re coughing up is liquid freedom!

you absolutely consume mineral oil. it is a lubricant often used for food related equipment

We classify mineral oil as food safe. It's a powerful laxative and you really wouldn't want to get a lot of it in your food but I use it on my cutting boards to keep them from drying out and cracking.

Is there a way to make homebrew Jolly Ranchers without chemical bullshit? Anyone know of a recipe?

homebrew Jolly Ranchers

sugar, corn syrup and water will make hard candy. after that, it's just a matter of dialing in the amounts of flavorings and citric acid for some tartness

🤔 I wonder if there's a way to make them with natural sweeteners and not sugar.

I sense an opportunity

I wonder if there’s a way to make them with natural sweeteners and not sugar.

get out of your own arsehole, do you know what sugar is made of? Sugarcane. Do you know what Sugarcane is? It's a fucking natural plant.

not really, at least not that I know of. the formation of hard candy kinda depends on how sugar acts once you get it above certain temperature points. there's probably a materials engineer somewhere that can offer you a sol'n that mostly does what you want but in the traditional world of candymaking sugar does a lot more than just sweeten.

Fair enough. It's nice to know that chemical-free options exist regardless. I ought to give making some a try sometime

I love how you used the term "homebrew" and not "homemade" lol.

There's even a wikiHow, if you use a search engine you can find it ❤️

Americans dont get Our flavour of irn-bru nor do they get bovril though due to foot and mouth concerns.

“Lights” are also illegal for sale as food products in the US, so no haggis. Thanks FDA. No really, that stuff is disgusting.

You won't eat a delicious all natural haggis supper, but byproduct of crude oil are fine.

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And here I thought just the sugar content was the issue. Welp if I needed another sign that it's time for that colonoscopy, I do no longer.

I'm surprised post brexit eu didn't cut the "red tape" of Food Standards & Hygiene.

I’m confused. I’ve been using Swedish Fish to potty train my kiddo so I’m obviously concerned. But I don’t see any of the scary substances on the ingredients: SUGAR, INVERT SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CITRIC ACID, WHITE MINERAL OIL, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, RED 40, CARNAUBA WAX

What am I missing?

Might be red 40. Colouring agents are highly regulated in the eu. Maybe the mineral oil.

And being allergic to Red 40 sucks. It causes severe breathing issues for me. I developed the allergy later in my 20’s, probably from eating it too much.

Mineral oil supposedly. Do your own research since it's your kid, but it's considered food safe here. Food grade mineral oil is used on knives and cutting boards regularly.

What, Red 40 is still legal in the US?

Is it illegal elsewhere? I’m allergic to it and would like to drink something red one day again. Even just some shitty fruit punch.

AFAIK it is illegal in the EU, Great Britain, and Swizerland. Don't know about other places.

They included Jolly Ranchers hard sweets containing mineral oil, which if contaminated with other compounds can initiate cancer formations.

It's literally one of the first sentences in the article.

That’s literally the 7th sentence of the article, which is literally not literally one of the first.

Also, how in the hell is it informative to say x can cause cancer if contaminated with other compounds?? Wow, thanks for that amazing reporting, BBC!

THIS JUST IN! Air causes cancer!!*

*when contaminated with powdered asbestos flakes

in Australia we have shops that sell American candy, im pretty sure it's illegal because many of those ingredients aren't allowed in Australian food HFCS being just one because you can't buy it in supermarkets.. i assume it's just not enforced. like illegal vapes that they also sell to children here.

weird. what about good candy, like peanut butter cups?

That’s a really low bar you have there for “good candy.”

gotta set the bar somewhere.

a fresh peanut butter cup is a joyous thing.

people putting down peanut butter cups as if they're some garbage candy .. tf has this world come to?

don't let Nerii there drag your estimation of a pbc down.

They are though and I say that as someone that loved them. If you're talking about the Reese's specifically, they've gotten shittier than they used to be. Lower-quality peanut butter, worse chocolate. They're gross now.

American chocolate really is trash. Head to Aldi and get some Schogetten or Choceur. You'll taste how much better the chocolate is.

I do like a peanut butter cup, but you know whats better? A spoon of quality peanut butter and a spoon of Nutella.

I'm a suckered for a peanut butter cup, but it is basically spreading peanut butter on the worst quality chocolate you can find.

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Ah yes, the mischevious substances wrecking our kids' health, smuggled from the New World... mountain dew.

The substance:

Calcium Disodium EDTA, which is banned within drinks in the UK, was found in Mountain Dew.
In animal studies, the crystalline powder caused adverse reproductive and developmental effects and has been shown to contribute to cancer of the colon.

But what about human studies?

This paper (PDF warning) states:

No evidence exists suggesting the compound exerts genotoxic or carcinogenic effects. Overall, Calcium Disodium EDTA seems to be safe for use as a food additive, as the noted toxic doses are higher than can be achieved via the addition of Calcium Disodium EDTA to food. However, human data is limited and the gross of available (human and animal) data, as well as the ADI, stems from several decades ago.

However, that paper is almost a decade old. I found this one from just a couple years ago which states:

Numerous studies in healthy animals have shown no considerable acute or repeat dose toxicity of EDTA. Based on a no observed adverse effects level (NOAEL) of 250 mg/kg body weight (bw) for Fe-EDTA, international authorities recommend an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of maximum 1.9 mg EDTA/kg bw for humans.

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I worked with someone who downed several bottles of Mt. Dew a day. One day he was laying on the floor of the office and I had to take him to the ER for kidney stones.

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Yes, it used to have brominated vegetable oil before it was banned for being obviously toxic.

All this time we've been worried about the Kinder Eggs.

Cause those are legal in Canada and that's where most of them were coming from.

Can't be having anything from Canada imported into the US and poisoning our children with politeness.

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