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Your 6-year-old child wants you to bake an elaborate fairy-tale castle-shaped birthday cake for her party, with rainbow, unicorns and princesses on the cake. You found a cake decorating video on the Internet, but the ingredients it uses make you wonder if they are safe to eat.

The FDA wants you to be aware that some decorative glitter and dust advertised for use in food may actually contain materials that should not be eaten.

Many decorative glitter powders and dusts are sold under the names of gloss powder, disco powder, glitter powder, glitter powder, phosphor, glitter powder, pearl powder and petal powder on the Internet and in craft and baking supply stores. In addition, various online teaching videos, blogs and articles advocate the use of these glitter and dust to decorate foods such as cakes, cupcakes and cake bars.

Some glitter and dust are edible and used exclusively for food. These products are made with ingredients that are safe to eat. But others may not.

You can use some simple methods to determine which ones are edible and which ones are inedible:

Discuss with your bakery the types of decorative products they use in baked goods. Are they made with all edible ingredients?

If in doubt, please ask to check the labels of the decorative products to make sure they are edible. And understand the flash and dust products sold on the Internet. Before buying, please provide the manufacturer's ingredient information.

The FDA reminds all commercial bakers that, as a food manufacturer, you are responsible for producing food that complies with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and applicable FDA regulations. Food manufacturers that contain unsafe ingredients may be subject to FDA enforcement actions to prevent unsafe products from entering the market.

If you have specific questions about the regulatory status of glitter and dust ingredients used in food decoration, please contact the Food Additive Safety Office at premarkt@fda.hhs.gov.

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