Why 'Food Safe' may not be all that safe - American Cake Decorating

Walk into any cake supply store, or online store, and you’ll find an ocean of colors, from pastels to vibrant, from mattes to shimmers, all designed to add that ‘wow factor’ to your cake. But just how safe is “food safe”?

We all know that food safety is important. We wash our hands, store our ingredients at the right temperature, and keep the critters away, but a potentially more serious threat is going largely unnoticed, not in our cakes, but ON them.

Dusts and paints are pretty, and shiny, and they take our cakes to the next level, but they knowing what safe to use can be a minefield, so let’s take a closer look at what ‘safe’ really is.

“Food Safe” or “Non Toxic”

In simple terms, “food safe” means something that is not likely to be toxic. Sounds ok right? Well here’s the thing, non toxic doesn’t really mean ‘safe’, it means NOT LIKELY to be dangerous, which might be fine for the average person, but for someone very young or old, or someone with a compromized immune system, it could be much more serious.

To give you some examples; crayons, dish soap, and diaper creams are generally non toxic. Sound appealing? Yeah no.

The FDA released Cake Industry specific guidelines in January of this year, warning against the use of unsafe ‘decorative glitters and dusts’, particularly on foods where the decorated item isn’t to be removed before consumption (you can find the full document on the Food and Drug Administration Website)

While it is law to include a list of ingredients on decorative glitters, the FDA urges all Cake Decorators, from Industrial Bakers, to home based artists, to do there own research, and not to use products that are not correctly labelled. This may be particularly relevant if you are purchasing products from overseas, that may not have the same restrictions as the states.

“If the label simply says “non-toxic” or “for decorative purposes only” and does not include an ingredients list, the product should not be used directly on foods” – FDA, Food Additives and Ingredients, January 14, 2016.

Is this the death of Disco?

No way baby! Highlighters and glitters can still be used, provided they are not used on anything that cannot be removed before eating. Applying Disco dust to a Modeling wrap that is to be removed before the cake is cut, along with instructions to do just that, is fine. Where it becomes an issue, is on foods that are to be directly consumed, like Cake Pops, and Buttercream.

The good news in all this doom and gloom, is that manufacturers are now actively making EDIBLE dusts and paints, with Edible Art Paints by Sweet Sticks, and Blossom Tint Dusts by Sugar Flair just to name a few (although once again, check with individual suppliers to see if the Edible label is applicable in your country).

You can even make your own Edible Glitter, following Avalon Yarnes’ Edible Glitter Tutorial.

Keep up to date

Food regulations change regularly, as do the products they certify, so keep up to date by checking regularly with the FDA (or your country’s food safety bureau), to ensure that you know what your responsibilities are to your customers. You can even subscribe to the FDA notifications, so the information comes to you, there’s really no excuse!

You can find more information about Edible Food Decorative products, and food standards in general, by following these links:

Kerrie Wyer x