If you see a shimmery cake behind a bakery counter that seems too pretty to eat, it might actually be, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Friday.
Heavy metal poisonings associated with commercially and home-prepared cakes were reported in Rhode Island and Missouri during 2018 and 2019, said the report. Cakes involved with the poisonings were decorated with “luster dust” powder, a common decoration for baked goods.
“Some glitters and dusts are edible and are produced specifically for use on foods,” said the Food and Drug Administration. “These products are made from ingredients that can be safely eaten.”
Other luster dusts used as removable cake decorations are not edible or food grade and are labeled as “nontoxic,” according to the CDC. Companies that make edible luster dust are required by law to include a list of ingredients on the label, said the centers.
In October 2018, The Rhode Island Department of Public Health Center for Acute Infectious Disease Epidemiology investigated a report that six children aged 1–11 years became ill after eating cake at a birthday party. Children who ate the cake had symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea that began 30 minutes to 10 hours after they ate the desert, the CDC said.
Their illnesses generally lasted less than 10 hours, but one person had symptoms for a longer period of time and was treated at an emergency room. Symptoms were consistent with heavy metal poisoning.
Investigators found that all of the people who experienced symptoms had eaten a piece of birthday cake purchased at a local bakery for the birthday party. Out of four people interviewed who attended the party and did not get ill, three did not eat the cake and one did not eat the frosting.
According the CDC, the cake had been decorated with a thick layer of frosting mixed with luster dust described as “gold dust” on the cake label. When environmental health food specialists investigated the bakery on-site, they found that luster dust had been added to butter extract and painted on the cake to create a thick layer. This dust was labeled as rose gold dust and marked as “nonedible,” “nontoxic,” and “for decoration only.”
An importer was able to identify the dust as fine copper powder that had been imported from a manufacturer for use as a metallic pigment to be used on consumer goods such as floor coverings, said the CDC. Laboratory analysis identified 22.1 mg of copper per gram of rose gold frosting on the birthday party cake, or nearly 900 mg of copper on one cake slice.
“Copper can be poisonous if it is swallowed or inhaled,” said the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Other powders with elevated levels of aluminum, barium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, and zinc were also removed from the bakery during the investigation.
Less than a year after children at the party were poisoned by the cake, another 1-year-old child had an elevated blood lead level after ingesting a product called primrose petal dust. The child’s mother had used it to decorate a home-baked birthday cake.
In May 2019, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services investigated the incident and found that the dust – sold and marketed by a Florida cake decorating company as a nontoxic color for decorating baked goods, candies, chocolate, and sugar art – was 25 percent lead. The product was labeled as “non-toxic” and “made in the USA.”
Subsequently, the department issued a press release warning people not to decorate food with the powder and directing people who may have been in contact with it to consult their doctor.
According to the CDC, “labeling indicating that a product is nontoxic does not imply that the product is safe for consumption.”
Consumers and commercial bakers should first check the list of ingredients for any product before using or ingesting it.
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