To be disgusted with Elf on the Shelf.

[ElfShelfIssues]

NC.
DS has ADHD. It is a daily, gruelling challenge to avoid him going hyperactive and to bring him down when he does. We're not sure on DD yet.
SIL bought the kids these "decorate your own elf" from the Elf on the Shelf brand. They contain 2 x tubes of "icing" (coloured gel) and a small packet of sprinkles, as well as a milk chocolate elf. DH gave these to the kids. They were so badly made that when you squeezed, the backs of the "icing" tubes burst on two of the colours, covering DH and DS with green and red gloop, respectively.

I had a moment which I told myself was paranoia, but decided to check the ingredients on the box to put my mind at ease, which is when I saw that they've used those shit food colours that can cause hyperactivity, but the kids had eaten it by the time I found this out.

I'm not mad at SIL because she wasn't to know, but we should be able to trust the food we feed our children and I am disgusted that a brand marketing their products specifically at children would use these E102 and E129 when the issues with them are so well-known that the packaging has to carry a warning! There are so many other red and green food colourings that are safe for children.

AIBU to be disgusted with Elf on the Shelf for making this rubbish and targeting children with it?

I wish these bloody food colours would be banned, there's no need for them, TBH.

Buckling up for an afternoon of pure hell now. Thanks Elf on the Shelf.

E numbers are generally an indication that things are made in places with shit food standards

No. E numbers are simply a list of ingredients. There is no qualification if they are good or bad, or natural or artificial. It's a system used across the EU originally, so there is no language confusion when reading labels. Lots of natural ingredients have e numbers including

E140 chlorophyll. Found in every plant.
E175 gold!
E290 Carbon dioxide. You're breathing it now.
E392 Rosemary

You cant say 'shit food standards' just because you see E numbers in the ingredients list.

Or maybe not put toxic stuff into children's food?

So... It's OK to sell toxic stuff for children as long as it isn't expensive?

the fact that some people are sensitive or reactive or even allergic to things doesn't make them toxic!

<sigh> see my previous post

Back in the early 80s my dbro was found to have asthma caused by allergies to azo-dyes among other things. He was 3 or 4 at the time.
Within a year we were all, including him (he was an early reader) used to checking ingredients for the ones that were an issue (great book "E for additives" was what we used, because, as others have pointed out, it isn't all E numbers: For example if I'm remembering rightly E300 is Vitamin C, and E100 is Turmeric, used for colouring, but also a spice) and the other couple of things (monosodium glutamate was another) that he couldn't have.

In those days it was pretty much every sweet, squash or fizzy other than lemonade or cola, but we still checked everything. Things you wouldn't realise had azo-dyes in did.
We used to put smarties in water to soak the colour off so he could have sweets at Christmas. A local shop sold gingerbread teddies with a red scarf we had to take off etc.
It was a couple of years before azo-dyes hit the headlines (and dm had great pleasure in going back to the Gp and saying "I told you so" as he'd said it wasn't possible he was reacting to them) and then we started seeing some things without. Skittles were the first mainstream sweets without them. I remember the disappointment when they changed their minds and went back to artificial colours.

I did quite a good line if offered a sweet asking for an extra one for my brother, knowing that there was a good chance he couldn't have it, so I would get two. And I got brownie points for being a kind sister. 😁

Why are you saying it's toxic?

Don't you just use judgement?
Ie not a natural colour then do t give it to your hyperactive child?
I am always really careful on this ( hyperactive kids) I limit sugar , don't let them have brightly coloured foods such as icing. Don't need to read labels as it's usually so obvious.

Just ask for a meds increase. My dd aged 10.has just gone to 40mg methylnate xl and well it's fab. I also have a top up instant for emergencies. She's currently sat on her ipad very chilled and I'm printing pics of for her to colour.

Yanbu but you and you DH do also need to take responsibility for checked labels before the kids get into it.

What if everyone call everything that was potentially harmful to be banned. Milk, nuts, sugar etc the list is endless.

YANBU. I thought these colourings weren't supposed to be in foods aimed at children. I used to react to these as a child in the 80s/90s and my DD is the same. She's 15 and was really silly and giggly the other day and I realised the drink she had been drinking has these in (Mogu Mogu). I don't think we have encountered them in her food very much but she had a horrendous reaction to Sunset Yellow in antibiotics. Literally bouncing off the walls.

DH gave these to the kids.

The only person you should be angry with is your DH. He knows your children, he knows what they readt badly to so why didn't he read the ingredients/packaging first?

I'm really interested to hear about people's experience of kids, particularly those with ADHD who react to these food additives. As a small child, I would get "hyper", as my parents used to say. And they linked this to yellow food colouring. I never knew if this was real or imagined. I am now looking into possible ADHD after observing traits in my DC and linking to my own experience and history.

Sorry OP, I do think that you will have to check and double check for ingredients that your children are sensitive to. It's good that there are warnings and labels at least.

Actually, I know that there is a red food colouring that sends me (and DS) high as a kite. Then a rash develops and finally a severe headache. So not sure why I am surprised to hear of real observed reactions to some yellow colourings. Never put 2 and 2 together previously and thought my parents were making it up.

That’s why smarties taste shit now. It was blue and orange colourings that were blamed. I have no idea on the science but I remember dm being very dismissive as the 2 mums at school who banged on about it were the passive/gentle parents who “didn’t believe in discipline” and used any excuse to defend previous dc’s behaviour. One is now doing well after joining the army at 16 (he’s 44 now but openly says he craves rules and boundaries) and the other is in prison. I’m not sure food colourings were to blame for that.

That said, upf really concerns me but is so hard to avoid.

Yes I thought they'd been banned years ago in favour of the natural colourings that can produce similar results without causing issues for anyone as I had issues with them in the 80s too.

Apparently according to MN I'm being unreasonable for assuming that food marketed at children would be safe for children to eat though, because I didn't feed my children wheatgrass and pure rainwater or obsessively scrutinize every single ingredient before letting my kids have a present from a well-known brand.
🤷‍♀️ Oh well. At least this thread has raised awareness amongst others like me who thought these had been banned a long time ago. By and large, it's rare to see these specific E numbers anymore, and I don't think it ought to be a case of "buyer beware", they should just not be making food with this rubbish in them. This isn't an allergy, this is additives which carry a health warning. Common sense says additives that carry a health warning for children shouldn't be permitted in children's food.

Ah yes that very dodgy research done by those bunch of charlatans at the Food Standards Agency which was referenced by the NHS in that first article I posted. 🤣🤣🤣

Sorry OP, but it's a legal ingredient your child is particularly sensitive to. It's on you to check.

My child, and thousands of others, is at risk of anaphylaxis if she eats peanuts - we don't expect peanuts to be banned even though they would kill some children, we check the ingredients.

Apparently according to MN I'm being unreasonable for assuming that food marketed at children would be safe for children to eat though, because I didn't feed my children wheatgrass and pure rainwater or obsessively scrutinize every single ingredient before letting my kids have a present from a well-known brand.

Don't be ridiculous. What MN is saying is that if you have a child that is sensitive to something you are responsible for checking the ingredients list. You don't just assume something is "safe". Same as with gluten/dairy/nuts/shellfish/whatever.

“Apparently according to MN I'm being unreasonable for assuming that food marketed at children would be safe for children to eat though”

yes and very naive! Where did you think the colouring in the icing came from? Organic beetroot?

You don't sound as though you read your own link before posting it?

I'm guessing if you did, you'd have read the very first words...

"Research has found a possible link between certain artificial colours used in food and problems with hyperactivity in children."

As I said, 'No conclusive evidence' 😳

The food standards agency hasn't done any research. All they are doing is reporting a possible link. That same article has a long list of reasons why there isn't complete evidence of a link and how food colourings are only a very small part of the issue.

Because a lot of food additives are. They may not kill, but they damage, and the research really hasn't been done on a lot of them to see what the effect is on a growing child. It's impossible to avoid them completely, and tough for paretns to have to read the tiny labels when they are caring for small children, working full time and, as most of us know, carrying the bulk of the housework load. There's no need to put this stuff in things children eat, so why are we so laid back about it?

sigh The research isn't there to say if some additives are toxic to growing children or not. Why are you so 'Please kick me Charlie' about food manufacturers adding stuff to things children eat that might harm them? They're making a fortune by doing it, and too many people just lie down and say, 'That's fine.'

OK, so let's say, 'the effect of over-consumption of sugar by children', which is negative. The science isn't yet conclusive, so it hasn't been 'debunked,' but what a research study did find was a negative effect on mood.