By an overwhelming majority in the California state legislator, Governor Gavin Newsom is likely to sign the “California Food Safety Act” into law very soon. A law based in a state so far away from my home usually wouldn’t pique my interest, but this one did – California was planning to ban my beloved Skittles candies.
Banning Skittles a month before Halloween – no way!
As it turns out, Skittles were spared, but other popular junk foods using potassium bromate, titanium dioxide brominated vegetable oil, red dye No. 3 and propylparaben will be banned beginning in Cali starting in 2027. These ingredients are present in popular foods like Little Debbie’s Cosmic Brownies, strawberry Yoo-hoo, and Brach’s candy corn – now forbidden in 2027. Former California Arnold Schwarzenegger and other leaders have supported the bill, saying that this amounts to nothing more than a simple change to the recipes of these sweet snacks.
Reading those ingredients, though, YIKES.
Man, we American’s (and our kids) eat a bunch of garbage, huh?
It turns out that a coloring agent, titanium dioxide (gross), was left off of the final version of the California legislation, therefore sparing Skittles and other candies (Nerds) from the chopping block. I felt vindicated until a blurb told that the European Union banned titanium dioxide after their studies found this substance had links to DNA damage.
DNA DAMAGE!!!
So, while it seems clear that American kids shouldn’t be eating this crap routinely, I began to wonder: What other ingredients are allowed in American and banned for consumption in other regions/countries?
YouTube and Google searches deliver the following foods that other countries ban (due to the American recipes containing substances like potassium bromate, titanium dioxide (also known as E171); brominated vegetable oil (BVO) (E443); potassium bromate (E924); azodicarbonamide (E927a) and propylparaben (E217):
-Pop-Tarts
-Gatorade
-citrus sodas (like generic ‘Mountain Dew’ and Sun Drop)
-sugary cereals (such as Frosted Flakes, Honey Bunches of Oats)
-Little Debbie snacks (ahem not only Cosmic Brownies)
-Ritz Crackers (WHAT!!!)
-Coffee-mate
That’s a crazy, farr-too-familiar list. Yikes!
Our house (which is pretty healthy) sees our teens carry in all of these items (say for the Coffee-mate) weekly (if not daily)!
What do I do?
I guess that on the heels of the California bill, I’ll marinate in my heightened awareness (?).
I guess I can encourage my teens to be careful when popping by the convenience store for a quick snack after practice.
I supposed that I limit these types of snacks entering my house with my younger kids whose diet I control better.
And, finally, I need to quit with my fake outrage for health decisions that should be very obvious to me. I shouldn’t be surprised that a $2 Little Debbie Zebra Cake is awful for me.
Skittles may have just missed California’s food ban, but I won’t be stealing a bag of Skittles from my kids’ trick-or-treat bucket in October.
