Smarties and their unhealthy colours.
ae...@minster.york.ac.uk
smarties were banned in America because the red colouring was considered
unhealthy. Also at around that time, Some European countries (The Netherlands
was perhaps one of them), blue smarties were never used.
Could someone tell me more details on that, as my memory fails.
+--------+-----------------------------------------------+
| Andrei | There are three sides to a controversy |
| Ellman | Yours, the other person's, and the right one. |
+--------+-----------------------------------------------+
Robert Pohl
> If I remember correctly, some time during the late 70's or early 80's, red
> smarties were banned in America because the red colouring was considered
> unhealthy. Also at around that time, Some European countries (The Netherlands
> was perhaps one of them), blue smarties were never used.
> Could someone tell me more details on that, as my memory fails.
>
I read an article around the time that they reintroduced red M&Ms that
they had stopped producing them around when red dye #2 was deemed
carcinogenic. They weren't actually using red dye #2, but they figured
people would *think* it was, and so stop eating M&Ms. Anyway, years
later, they figured people had forgotten about the red dye #2 scare
and reintroduced the red M&Ms.
Robert Pohl
Global Village Idiot
Cynthia Kandolf
>If I remember correctly, some time during the late 70's or early 80's,
red
>smarties were banned in America because the red colouring was
considered
>unhealthy. Also at around that time, Some European countries (The
Netherlands
>was perhaps one of them), blue smarties were never used.
>Could someone tell me more details on that, as my memory fails.
The red M&M bit has been covered already, so i'll skip that...
No blue food coloring is approved for sale in Norway. I checked last
night; although there were pictures of blue Smarties on the package,
we didn't find a single one inside. There were some purplish ones,
though, which i suppose _could_ be called blue... are the blue
Smarties you're thinking of bright blue (like the picture on the
package) or a purplish-blue/bluish-purple?
-Cindy Kandolf
ci...@solan.unit.no
Trondheim, Norway
Drew Lawson
>I read an article around the time that they reintroduced red M&Ms that
>they had stopped producing them around when red dye #2 was deemed
>carcinogenic. They weren't actually using red dye #2, but they figured
>people would *think* it was, and so stop eating M&Ms.
Good business judgement, there.
I remember people telling me that just about _anything_ red was going
to kill me (M&M's, Lifesavers, strawberry milkshakes, etc).
Drew "Dye! Dye! Kill you all!" Lawson
--
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------+
| Drew Lawson | I had to sell my internal organs |
| law...@acuson.com | Just to pay the rent. |
| | -- Weird Al (When I was Your Age) |
Adrian Godwin
>
>The red M&M bit has been covered already, so i'll skip that...
M&Ms have, but not Smarties. Perhaps the UL about smarties being banned
/ red smarties not sold in the US was derived from the M&M decision ?
>No blue food coloring is approved for sale in Norway. I checked last
>night; although there were pictures of blue Smarties on the package,
>we didn't find a single one inside. There were some purplish ones,
>though, which i suppose _could_ be called blue... are the blue
>Smarties you're thinking of bright blue (like the picture on the
>package) or a purplish-blue/bluish-purple?
>
Bright turquoise/blue. The purplish-blue smarties are purplish-blue,
easily distinguished from the pink smarties, which are purplish-mauve.
All the colours on the tube are fairly accurate except the red (much darker
in real life) and the brown (not illustrated).
-adrian
Andrew Lewis
|> Andrei Ellman writes:
|> >If I remember correctly, some time during the late 70's or early 80's,
|> red
|> >smarties were banned in America because the red colouring was
|> considered
|> >unhealthy. Also at around that time, Some European countries (The
|> Netherlands
|> >was perhaps one of them), blue smarties were never used.
|> >Could someone tell me more details on that, as my memory fails.
|>
|> The red M&M bit has been covered already, so i'll skip that...
|>
the *pink* Smarties because of carcinogenic dye. Don't know about M&M's -
we didn't have those here until (I think) about the 80's. They still
haven't really caught up with Smarties (or so it seems).
|> No blue food coloring is approved for sale in Norway. I checked last
|> night; although there were pictures of blue Smarties on the package,
|> we didn't find a single one inside. There were some purplish ones,
|> though, which i suppose _could_ be called blue... are the blue
|> Smarties you're thinking of bright blue (like the picture on the
|> package) or a purplish-blue/bluish-purple?
|>
They are *bright* blue (just like the picture) and the dye gets all over
the kids' mouths, hands, anything else in range...
That's another thing - does the dye come off M&M's? It comes off Smarties
readily. (I know - I could buy some and see but as I'm allergic to
chocolate it would be a bit of a waste.)
Andrew "Society is chocolate-obsessed when you're outside looking in" Lewis
dave budd
>No blue food coloring is approved for sale in Norway. I checked last
>night; although there were pictures of blue Smarties on the package,
>we didn't find a single one inside. There were some purplish ones,
>though, which i suppose _could_ be called blue... are the blue
>Smarties you're thinking of bright blue (like the picture on the
>package) or a purplish-blue/bluish-purple?
The blue ones and the purple ones are distinct types.
Dave "will eat Smarties for food, or did somebody already say that" Budd
--
"The importance of bluffing lies not in the actual play, played against
a good player, but in the protection it provides against the opponent's
potential deviations from the good strategy" Von Neumann & Morgenstern
D.B...@mcc.ac.uk (via JANET: D.B...@uk.ac.mcc)
Dave Budd,MCC,Oxford Rd,Manchester,England(44|0)61-275-6033 fax061-275-6040
Cynthia Kandolf
>are the blue
>|> Smarties you're thinking of bright blue (like the picture on the
>|> package) or a purplish-blue/bluish-purple?
>|>
>They are *bright* blue (just like the picture) and the dye gets all
over
>the kids' mouths, hands, anything else in range...
Then there are no blue Smarties in Norway. We finished the whole pack
now and there was nary a blue one in the bunch. (This was my first
time eating Smarties; my opinion is that if i have a severe M&M
craving i'll try to quiet it with NonStops instead. Those Smarties
are SWEEEEEEEEEET!)
>That's another thing - does the dye come off M&M's?
YES. If the weather is warm it will come off on anything it touches;
even the warmth of your hands is enough to get some of the dye off if
you hold them long enough. I remember some of the dyes being quite
hard to wash off, too, but it's been a while since i had a bag of real
M&Ms (not for sale here, for some warped reason or another) so i don't
remember which ones were the worst offenders.
D.M.Procida
allusion to the supposed carcinogenic properties of red M&Ms. Briefly,
Peggy Sue finds herself a teenager again (after having been an adult
long enough to raise her own teenage daughter). She is with her
younger sister, eating M&Ms or something similar, and she says to her
something like "Don't eat the red ones; they give you- ...ah,
nothing." In one of the last scenes of the movie, where all her family
are gathered round her bed in hospital (she's back 'in the future'
again) but her younger sister is not among the visitors.
It seems to me that this implies that the younger sister perhaps did
in fact die of cancer. Peggy Sue stopped herself from completing her
warning (which she delivered in an almost automatic fashion, just in
the way in which you might if you didn't *really* think that Red M&Ms
were carcinogenic) because you simply wouldn't want to say such a
thing, if you knew that your sister *was* going to die of the disease.
The whole M&M 'thing' is handled superbly well, and I think Coppola
and the actress (whatever her name is) managed to capture perfectly
the epistemological status such urban folklore has in normal people's
view of the world- so ambivalent that it's hard to describe, but when
you see the movie you say "That's exactly how it is!"
_Peggy Sue_ is *not* a time-travel movie, by the way, but it's rather
too involved explain here.
Daniele "Is that like S&M?" Procida
YuNoHoo
: Then there are no blue Smarties in Norway. We finished the whole pack
: now and there was nary a blue one in the bunch. (This was my first
: time eating Smarties; my opinion is that if i have a severe M&M
Great, Cindy's on the right track. NonStop are superior to non-peanut
M&M. Now, if I can get her to write down the name of the manufacturer
of the Norwegian M before she falls asleep. (It's not Nidar, Cindy.
I know, because you cannot buy M in the cinemas in Trondheim...)
Oh boy, next thing Cindy will tell me is that GB icecream is Swedish.
(It's owned by Unilever, not a run-of-the-mill Swedish company.)
ObFact: McDonalds tested a new product named McSalmon on the
Norwegian market - the salmon burger!
---
YuNoHoo "Ja vi elsker"
Cynthia Kandolf
> (This was my first
>: time eating Smarties; my opinion is that if i have a severe M&M
>: craving i'll try to quiet it with NonStops instead. [...]
>
>Great, Cindy's on the right track. NonStop are superior to non-peanut
>M&M.
Foo. NonStop are superior to Smarties. M&Ms are superior to either
of them, but i don't know where to buy them in Norway.
> Now, if I can get her to write down the name of the manufacturer
>of the Norwegian M before she falls asleep. (It's not Nidar, Cindy.
>I know, because you cannot buy M in the cinemas in Trondheim...)
Okay, okay, so i was wrong for once in my life. Sheesh. It's not
like this one really matters... The real tragic loss to the Trondheim
Cinema candy stand is that Nidar stopped making Stratos in the tube of
little square pieces, which was easy to share and to eat in the dark.
>Oh boy, next thing Cindy will tell me is that GB icecream is Swedish.
>(It's owned by Unilever, not a run-of-the-mill Swedish company.)
I don't care who makes it. They should be shot for daring to call it
ice cream, whoever it is. Bleah. Hennig Olsen lives!
-Cindy "will have strong opinions about food for food" Kandolf
ci...@solan.unit.no
Trondheim, Norway
lrud...@vax.clarku.edu
>Okay, okay, so i was wrong for once in my life. Sheesh. It's not
>like this one really matters... The real tragic loss to the Trondheim
>Cinema candy stand is that Nidar stopped making Stratos in the tube of
>little square pieces, which was easy to share and to eat in the dark.
But I thought the whole point of hibernation was that you _didn't_ have to eat
during the dark months?
Lee "Mmmm...M'n'M" Rudolph
bill nelson
: ci...@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) writes:
: : Then there are no blue Smarties in Norway. We finished the whole pack
: : now and there was nary a blue one in the bunch. (This was my first
: : time eating Smarties; my opinion is that if i have a severe M&M
: : craving i'll try to quiet it with NonStops instead. [...]
:
: Great, Cindy's on the right track. NonStop are superior to non-peanut
: M&M. Now, if I can get her to write down the name of the manufacturer
She did not say that, you know. All she said is that Smarties are junk.
Bill "Hoping for blue M&Ms" Nelson
YuNoHoo
Correct! Do you imply I said Cindy said that?
---
YuNoHoo "Ice Cream, NonStop and Peanuts --- my favourite sweet"