The doctor recommends that you check the labels on the decorations before you start baking.

October 11, 2012-For cupcakes and other baked goods, all that glitters is not gold.

After the British Food Standards Association issued a warning, an investigation by the West Yorkshire Trade Standards Agency revealed that the edible cupcake glitter found in bakery supplies stores was made of plastic and brass.

"West Yorkshire public analysts discovered that many glitter powders are made of the inedible polyester plastic used to make beverage bottles. Under the microscope, the plastic was found to be tiny hexagons with jagged edges. In another case, the cake flash powder was actually fine powdered brass,” the investigation pointed out.

“Anyone who makes cupcakes for sale should check the ingredients they buy in detail. Anyone who buys cakes with glitter decorations should ask the baker what the glitter is actually made of before eating. Don’t assume that plastic glitter will There is no harm through the digestive system because no one actually knows," Graham Hebblethwaite, chief officer of the West Yorkshire Trade Standards Service, said in a statement.

In April of this year, the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued guidelines on the use of glitter and dust in food, stating that “'non-toxic' glitter and dust are not made of edible materials and must not be eaten.”

The FSA stated, “Glitter manufacturers must provide suppliers with a'compliance statement' to prove that the product meets the legislative requirements for food contact materials and articles.”

In the United States, the typical ingredients in decorative glitter, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, carmine, and mica are considered safe by the FDA because they are used in very small amounts.

"None of them seem likely to cause serious harm," said Dr. Hannah Hayes, a medical toxicology researcher in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Ohio State University.

"Anything with a large enough dose can be a poison," Hayes said, noting that dust is a risk for people who inhale products from plants.

The problem is that not all websites and stores know the ingredients of the glitter powder they sell. A salesperson at a popular cake supply store said that the glitter they sell was “eatable” because the label says “non-toxic”.

But "non-toxic" should not be confused with "edible", said Dr. David Acheson, partner and managing director of Leavitt Partners' Food and Import Security Department.

Among the non-toxic glitter powder sold in bakery shops, “it may not be wise to eat it,” Acheson said, although “it is very unlikely to cause problems.”

Although he said that if you have eaten glitter powder, you should not panic, but he suggested: "If you are going to the store to find something labeled edible, if it says it is non-toxic, please think twice."

Professional pastry chefs use glitter powder in restaurants and bakeries.

Francois Payard of Francois Payard Bakery has used this product on his silver and gold macaron biscuits for many years.

The chef only uses edible glitter powder and buys it from a French pastry supplier. These products are much more expensive than those sold in retail stores.

"You have to know which one you bought," he said. "It's edible, but you can't eat a pound. It can't allow you to eat a whole meal."

To make sure they use a small amount, Payard mixes the dust with 90% alcohol, and then sprays his signature biscuits with an air brush.

In 1977, when silver balls called dragees became popular, the FDA solved the cake decoration problem.

The guide states that when dragees are “specially used to decorate cakes and are used under conditions that cannot be consumed as confectionery, they are not considered a food or confectionery category.”

In 2003, after Napa lawyers filed a lawsuit alleging that silver jewelry was poisonous, dragees were removed from California shelves.

Although dragees are still not sold in California stores, the product information posted on many websites can be confusing.

The Baker's Kitchen online store wrote: “They are safe to eat, but because they are a real metal coating, they should be removed before eating. (This means that if you eat them, they won’t hurt you, they do have sugar centers. , It’s just that the FDA recommends that they only be used for decorative purposes, and technically they are not food)."

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