Parents warned over slushie drinks after several children hospitalised

Sophie Collins

“There’ve been a few cases now where children have been hospitalised – not too many, about six or so”

Parents are being warned over the effects of slushies after several children were recently hospitalised in Ireland.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is pushing for retailers to advise customers of the glycerol content in the colourful iced drinks and the ‘slushie effect’.

Glycerol is used to lower the sugar content of drinks, and if it’s consumed in large quantities over a short period of time it can cause things like headaches, nausea and vomiting.

The FSAI published a warning this week following reports that around six children had to be hospitalised.

It is calling on parents to ensure that any children under the age of four do not drink slushies that contain glycerol.

For children aged between five and 10-years-old, the authority also states that they should have no more than one per day.

FSAI Food Science and Standards Director, Dr Wayne Anderson spoke to Newstalk Breakfast to explain the why there have been a number of hospitalisations.

“In mild cases they can get headaches, nausea and even vomiting and in extreme cases they can get very low blood sugar and loss of consciousness,” he explained.

“There’ve been a few cases now where children have been hospitalised – not too many, about six or so.

“It’s certainly enough for us to warn people.

“We’re saying to people they shouldn’t allow their children aged four and under to drink these slush ice drinks – they’re not appropriate for them.”

For children aged between five and 10-years-old, “one slush ice drink a day is unlikely to cause any ill effects,” Mr Anderson went on to say.

“Moderation is the key but if they drink a lot of these one after the other, that’s really not good for them,” he said.

“To be honest these aren’t healthy options anyway”.

For those wanting to spot the problematic additive, Dr Anderson said that glycerol can also be labelled as E422.

“When one of these slushies is sold in a supermarket in a packet you can look at the ingredients [and] see that it contains glycerol,” he said.

“When they’re sold at newsagents or a play centre in these machines nobody knows.

“The retailers know because they see glycerol on the packaging of the product they put into the machine.

“We’re saying to the retailers, they need to display a point-of-sale warning to say that this product contains glycerol and is not recommended for children under the age of four”.

It is understood that the FSAI raised the issue of glycerol with the European Commission and other member states but for any change to come to fruition in food additive legislation, it would need to be approved at European level.