The standard of manufacturer of American sweets is lower than in Great Britain. There is a worrying development in Great Britain because you might have noticed that there are many American candy stores dotted around the country particularly in London where, frankly, they’ve been outlawed by the local authority because they bring down the amenity of an area. The reason why they are there is because landlords are asking too much money for rental which forces out good businesses leaving the shop vacant which is temporally filled by American candy stores paying, as I understand it, discounted rental. I believe these shops are a front for other activities such as the sale of illegal goods and money laundering.
That’s the background but the detail is as follows. American sweets contain additives which are banned in the UK such as erythrosine a.k.a. E127. It has been linked to hyperactivity and cancer in children and is commonly present in sweets which are available in British shops.
Erythrosine is an approved colourant in foods and is used in foods for cats and dogs and ornamental fish et cetera. But the chemical is also used in human foods in the form of sweets where it is illegal.
Erythrosine is an artificial red food colouring made from coal tar. It’s an organic compound containing iodine and sodium. It’s referred to as Red 3.
The worrying aspect of this story is that there is an increasing demand for imported sweets from America particular at Christmas and millions of these ‘illegal’ sweets are now imported into the country.
Examples of these sweets include:
- Jolly Rancher
- Swedish Fish
- Dubble Bubble
- Hot Tamales
- Twizzlers
- Lemonhead
It appears that some local authorities such as Staffordshire County Council are taking steps to seize these illegal sweets. Staffordshire recently seized 3378 items from shops. Victoria Wilson, the council’s cabinet member responsible for trading standards tells us that you can find out whether a sweet is from America are not by the ingredients which are recorded in fluid ounces and ounces rather than grams and millilitres.
The items seized by Staffordshire County Council contained unauthorised additives which are not manufactured in the UK market including brominated vegetable oil, mineral oil and bleached flour. Some ingredients require a disclaimer because they cause hyperactivity in children.
It appears that the company ownership structure of these candy stores in the UK is opaque. Westminster City Council has asked for support from the tax authorities and the National Crime Agency to investigate the ownership of these businesses. Apparently, ownership can be traced back to countries such as India, Iraq and Afghanistan. They deliberately keep their operations opaque perhaps for these reasons.
A great deal more needs to be done to eradicate these unhealthy sweets from the UK. There is an increase in ADHD in kids which may in part be due to the sweets mentioned above but also in part due to increased access to healthcare. There may also be misdiagnosis because doctors do like to label as a medical condition what might be regarded as normal more behaviour in children i.e. hyperactivity. Just a thought.
