Thursday, December 28, 2006

Kids' candy - leaded or unleaded?

News just in from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it will be tightening the amount of lead allowed in children's candy.

[Carmi pauses to shake his head and bemusedly mutter a three-word obscenity starting with "what the..." There, I'm over it. I'll continue.]

I simply want to know who allowed lead in kids' candy in the first place? What other noxious stuff is going into their - and our - food?

Please let me know if I'm the only one who finds this somewhat - OK, extremely - disturbing.

14 comments:

Star said...

Yes it's disturbing. and as I am pretty sure that I have never seen the word lead on any ingredient list, I wonder what unpronounceable twenty seven letter word it is on the back of the package.

Tammy said...

There's lead in candy?! ICK! I probably eat more candy than the kids do, maybe I better stop!

Hi Carmi!

Linda said...

lead...in kids' candy? WT* is the EXACT phrase I muttered too!

well, they're allowing cloned animal products on the market now...who knows what else is going to be available soon?

Leanne said...

I am dumfounded.

Anonymous said...

This hardly ever happens....I am speechless!

Mrs. Falkenberg said...

WHAT?!! Lead? In my major food group? What is this world coming to?!

scrappintwinmom said...

Um...WTF is right!
I don't have enough to worry about, now I need to worry about lead in candy. Gads.

Anonymous said...

This is why I am so picky about what my kids eat and why they rarely gt candy. Read the labels of any packaged food and it has hydrogenated oil, that is just as bad as lead, imo.
Not sure how this happened. It sickens me.

Catherine said...

I would guess that there is lead in everything. Scientific testing can find things in very, very small traces - it's not that anyone puts it there, it's just that it is in the environment, so it will get into any food you manufacture unless it is made in an incredibly high tech sealed off factory - cleaner than a hospital operating room. So, maybe it was allowed up to two parts per billion before, and now it is one part per billion - just by way of example. I'm hoping that's the explanation.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what I find more disturbing, the lead in candy issue or the cloned meat issue. In their infinite wisdom the government's decided it's safe to eat AND they don't need to label it?! Personally, I'd rather know than not know. That way I'm able to make an informed choice. Or at least I think I'm informed. Argh!

kimbofo said...

You need to join forces with Jamie Oliver, a British TV chef who has been campaigning about the poisons/rubbish in children's food.

Anonymous said...

I think it's like catherine said -- trace amounts of "unsavory" things are allowed in food because unless things are done in clean-room like conditions (which would be prohibitively expensive), a certain amount of foreign matter gets in. I remember reading somewhere there is a certain amount of "rodent fecal matter" allowed in food processing. ::pause to allow that to sink in:: Yeah -- that was my reaction too. I just try (desperately) not to think about it...

Snaggle Tooth said...

They didn't tell us about the heavy-metal content in some ocean fish when they were selling it claimong "healthy either!

I eat lotsa candy, myself... little ones tho- UNFORGIVEABLE!
(nail their butts to the boards)

utenzi said...

Michele sent me again, Carmi.

I didn't see that report on lead, Carmi, but it doesn't shock me. I would assume--perhaps incorrectly--that the lead comes from the water used in manufacturing the candy. They probably just don't filter it. The other possibility would be the use of lead pipes but it's been so long since lead pipes have been used that seems unlikely...