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UK begins SEIZING Mountain Dew, Jolly Rancher, Swedish Fish and Lemonhead amid crackdown on American junk food that is linked to infertility and health issues
Watchdog calls on US to ban candy cancer chemicals as UK begins SEIZING Mountain Dew, Jolly Rancher, Swedish Fish and Lemonhead amid crackdown on American junk food that is linked to infertility and health issues
By Luke Andrews Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com
Published: 16:02 EST, 11 December 2023 | Updated: 17:05 EST, 11 December 2023
A US watchdog has told DailyMail.com that the seizure of American candies in the UK should be a wake-up call for Americans about what's in their food.
On Monday, footage from the UK showed workers stuffing American candy and sodas - which are found in virtually every US store — into trash bags as regulators get tough on US imports.
Candies like Jolly Rancher, Swedish Fish and Lemonhead contain several additives that are legal in the US but banned under EU and UK law due to their links to cancer, infertility and other problems.
The watchdog Consumer Reports said the video should trigger a shift in food policy in the US and urged officials here to 'do more' to protect adults and children.
They called for the list of food additives banned in the US to be expanded — to include more food dyes and chemicals outlawed in Europe years ago.
The Food and Drugs Administration has been under increasing pressure to tighten its regulations on food additives in recent months.
California outlawed four food additives — brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propyl paraben, and red dye no.3 — in October amid concerns over their links to cancer and other health problems.
New York and Pennsylvania are now also looking to follow suit, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed.
Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, said: 'The chemical additives that are to be banned under the California law are certainly a good start for addressing this issue in the US.
'However, as this import action in the UK highlights, more needs to be done.
'The list of chemical additives to target and scrutinize should be expanded to include synthetic food dyes and other chemicals that have been linked to cancer and other adverse health conditions.'
He added: 'What is ultimately needed in the US is for the FDA to modernize and strengthen its regulatory process for food additives.'
The UK and European Union outlawed many of these additives decades ago.
Representatives in California say that everyone in America deserves to be 'as well protected' as people in Europe.
Dr Carolyn Williams, a dietician based in Alabama, told DailyMail.com that she hoped the images would 'motivate' US regulators to take action.
'We should be moving the way that Europe is moving, the way that California is moving,' she said. 'That would be a great first step for the country.'
'We are way overdue in the US to adopt some of the EU's food policies.'
The mother-of-two added: 'I wish [additive bans] would trick over into the US.
'I saw very early in one of my children the effects of food additives.
'There is a blue dye, a blue coloring, and I noticed when he ate this particular blue dye — it is in some cakes and in some candy — his hyperactivity went through the roof.'
In the UK, at least nine popular US products are now being seized by officials because of the ingredients they contain.
Among them are Twizzlers and Lemonhead, which contain mineral oil — a substance derived from petroleum that studies suggest raise the risk of cancer.
Dubble Bubble is being removed because it contains BHT, or butylated hydroxytoluene, which studies show can promote tumor growth and impair blood clotting.
UK officials were also cracking down on Mountain Dew because it contains calcium disodium EDTA, which is linked to cancer.
And Sunny D and Mirinda were seized because they contain potassium sorbate, a food preservative that raises the risk of allergic reaction.
More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12850721/us-candy-cancer-chemicals-seized-uk.html