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

News

23663 readers
3693 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] girlfreddy 74 points 1 year ago (8 children)

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.

[–] s1ndr0m3 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] girlfreddy 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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 1 year 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 1 year ago (1 children)

i actually can't find this being true anywhere.

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

[–] girlfreddy 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] girlfreddy 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 1 year 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 1 year ago (1 children)

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 1 year ago

Hey thanks for that tip!

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] MaxVoltage -3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year 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 1 year ago

Deregulation, baby! 🇺🇸🦅

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

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

[–] EmpathicVagrant 5 points 1 year ago

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

[–] linearchaos 5 points 1 year 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.

[–] pinkdrunkenelephants 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 1 year ago

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

[–] liztliss 3 points 1 year ago

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