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submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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

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[-] [email protected] 74 points 7 months ago

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.

[-] [email protected] 39 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

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.

[-] [email protected] 30 points 7 months ago

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.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

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

Yes only the peers are allowed to do that.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

i actually can't find this being true anywhere.

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

[-] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

From the article ...

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

[-] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

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.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

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.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

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

[-] [email protected] 32 points 7 months ago

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

[-] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Hey thanks for that tip!

[-] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago

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.

[-] [email protected] -3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

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

[-] Chronographs 7 points 7 months ago

I don’t know about you but I don’t eat random rocks

[-] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

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.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Deregulation, baby! 🇺🇸🦅

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

[-] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

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

[-] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Somehow the jolly rancher story just got even worse. Better? Worse.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

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.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

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

[-] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

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

[-] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

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

[-] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

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

this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
300 points (99.0% liked)

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