Are dragees banned in Florida?

[Sugared Ellipses]

I'm trying to figure out if dragees are legally banned in Florida. The reason I ask is that an online purveyor told me that they are "outlawed", yet my local store does carry them (at $14 a pop which is part of the reason I turned to the internet for a cheaper price) and there are other online stores that seem to sell to Florida. I did a search on the Florida Department of Health and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services websites finding nothing about dragees. Anyone have a definitive answer?

Thanks in advance!

[Tom Gengo]

I think that dragees are protected under the "Endangered Species Act." Just kidding.

[JeanneCake]

When I've bought them (wholesale) the only caveats are not for sale in California (they won't even ship to CA); and they have "for decoration only" all over them. About 5 or 6 years ago, when my health inspector showed up for an inspection, there was a jar of them on my bench and he picked them up and said "you know you're not supposed to use these!"

[Lisa Shock]

I found an explanation in The San Francisco Chronicle Online Edition.

[tomdarch]

I found an explanation in The San Francisco Chronicle Online Edition.

So this is driven by some prosecutor filing suits against sellers of dragees... It sounds like everyone just buckles and settles in the face of his suits. Based on the little bit of research I just did on silver toxicity make me think that someone needs to call his bluff, go to court and force this guy to put up or shut up. When you consider that lots of idio... er, I mean fine people with alternative beliefs consume "colloidal silver" preparations (aka "snake oil"), it doesn't seem that ingested silver is particularly harmful. The main effect of consuming very large quantities of silver is called "argyria" - it turns your fingernails and skin "ashen gray" or bluish. There are lots of examples of people consuming enough silver to color their whole bodies blue-gray, but no other specific harm. Lots of places sell this "colloidal silver" stuff and (worse) devices that use an electical charge to pull atoms off a pice of silver into water, which is then drunk (worse because I suspect that it is very difficult to control the amount of silver that gets into the water...) Anyway, the FDA doesn't stop companies from selling this cra.. er, these fine products - rather the FDA insists that they not make unproven health claims (which translates to prohibiting any claims of health benefit).

There are a few documents that turn up when you search for "silver toxicity humans". One of them is from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. As a nuclear weapons lab, they know quite a bit about toxic substances. Their document really doesn't point to much harm from silver beyond argyria. Yes, inhaling lots of silver dust will harm your lungs, and putting silver solutions in your eyes will inflame them. But beyond those examples of acute exposure, the document didn't point out any particular harm.

So, the FDA has decided to allow the sale of silver solutions that they know people are intentionally drinking, but this prosecutor has decided to go on some sort of crusade against cake decorations. I rather doubt that if he had to go to court and prove that dragees present a real danger, he get very far.

[JeanneCake]

It would be wonderful if someone could call him on it! You can still buy these wholesale but not at the consumer level. It's all about the liability - if something happens to someone who eats one or many; they go after who supplied them....

Time and expense are probably too high for the average person or distributor to take him on; once again it is easier to settle than to fight. We need a dragees lobbyist to bring them back!

But I'd love it if you sent him that info and asked him to clarify his position!

[Chris Hennes]

I contacted the Florida Department of Health and this was their response:

Thank you for your recent inquiry. Dragees are legal for sale in Florida, but since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declared them as non-edible and requires jars to carry labels saying they're "for decoration only", their use must be carefully controlled.

[Lindacakes]

A. It would be interesting to know exactly how many silver dragees it would take to put someone in danger of turning grey . . . Extrapolated by dividing how many silver dragees per cookie and how many Italian weddings you would have to attend to reach critical dragee mass?

B. It's interesting that dragees get outlawed just as the use of cunning gold embellishment on chocolates rises.

C. I have got a bottle of French dragees I'm willing to let go . . . for an undisclosed sum.

[Kerry Beal]

C. I have got a bottle of French dragees I'm willing to let go . . . for an undisclosed sum.

And I've got a bottle of silver flake - let the bidding begin!