Poop Franken Berry (Beloved Halloween Cereal) Was Once Medically Found to Cause Pink Poop - Page 3

listopencil · 10-30-2013, 08:28 PM

In 1971, Walt Disney World had just opened in Orlando, Florida. Led Zepplin was about to blow our minds, a prison riot had been shut down at Attica, and all across America, kids were pooping pink. Hundreds of mothers hospitalized their children for fecal testing out of fear of internal bleeding. Within that same year, not-so-coincidentally, General Mills released their classic monster cereals Count Chocula and Franken Berry. The latter was colored red using “Food, Drug and Cosmetics” (FD & C) Red No. 2 and No. 3., originally and chemically known as amaranth, a synthetic color named after the natural flower. The synthetic dye can’t be broken down or absorbed by the body.

A 1972 case study, “Benign Red Pigmentation of Stool Resulting from Food Coloring in a New Breakfast Cereal (The Franken Berry Stool),” published in Pediatrics explains the phenomenon later known as “Franken Berry Stool.” A 12-year-old boy was hospitalized for four days after being admitted for possible rectal bleeding. “The stool had no abnormal odor but looked like strawberry ice cream,” Payne reports. Further questioning of the mother revealed that the child had enjoyed a bowl of Franken Berry cereal two days and one day prior to his hospitalization. By the fourth day, they did a little experiment: They fed the boy four bowls of Franken Berry cereal and for the next two days, he passed bright pink stools. But other than pink poop, there were no other symptoms, Payne reports, “Physical examination upon admission revealed [a boy] in no acute distress and with normal vital signs…Physical examination was otherwise unremarkable.”

At the time of the study, the product had only been on the market for a few weeks. The author warns that “physicians should be aware of its potential for producing reddish stools.” Other monster cereals at the time also used dyes that caused stool to change colors. Booberry, which debuted in December of 1972, for example, uses Blue No. 1 (a dye currently banned in Norway, Finland and France) and turns stool green. Apparently, green stool seems less life-threatening than the reddish hue caused by Franken Berry.

But pink poop wasn’t always the worst side effect from colored confections. Ruth Winters’s A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients details the history of commercial food dyes, including those later used in Franken Berry. At the turn of the 20th century, with virtually no regulation of more than 80 dyes used to color food, the same dyes used for clothes could also be used to color confections and other edibles.

In 1906, Congress passed the first legislation for food colors, the Pure Food and Drug Act, deeming seven colors suitable for use in food: orange, erythrosine, ponceu 3R, amaranth (the color later used in Franken Berry cereal), indigotin, naphthol yellow, and light green. Since then, upon further study, several of these choices have been delisted.

More than 20 years later, in 1938, Congress passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act which gave these colors numbers instead of chemical names—every batch needed to be certified by the Food and Drug Administration, though some problems still arose: in the fall of 1950, many children became ill from eating an orange Halloween candy containing one to two percent FD&C Orange No. 1, for example.

Red Dye No. 2, the one used by the original Franken Berry cereal, was one of the most widely used color additives at the time, until a 1971 Russian study reported that the dyes caused tumors in female rats. Years of research led the FDA to find that even though the Russian study was extremely flawed (the FDA couldn’t even prove that amaranth was one of the dyes used), the agency would remove the dye from its Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) list in 1976. Between public outcry against the dye and the chance that trace elements could potentially have carcinogens, the FDA banned a number of other dyes as well. According to the FDA, 47 other countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, still allow for the use of Red Dye No. 2.

That same year, Mars removed their red M&M’s from the candy-color spectrum for nearly a decade, even though Mars didn’t even use Red No. 2; the removal of the red candies was a response to the scare, livescience.com reports:

The red food coloring in question was not actually used in M&M’s chocolate candies, according to mms.com. “However, to avoid consumer confusion, the red candies were pulled from the color mix.”

Inquiries to General Mills as to when the Franken Berry ingredients switched to less poop-worrying dyes, were not responded to. These days, the only red colors accepted by the FDA are Red No. 40, which appears in all five of the General Mills monster cereals, and Red No. 3, typically used in candied fruits.

The symptoms of “Franken Berry Stool” were pretty benign compared to other more notable confectionary mishaps in history: The accidental poisoning of more than 200 people in Bradford, England in 1858 comes to mind. The sweets were accidentally made with arsenic. Let’s be thankful there’s a bit more regulation of food dyes these days.

Another stool scare in cereal history: Smurfberry Crunch Cereal, released in 1982 by Post Foods, turned the poop of those who ate it blue—the ultimate Smurfs experience. Post then changed the formula and re-released the cereal in 1987 as Magic Berries Cereal.

Looking for a sugar high now? You’re safe. When you open your celebratory, Franken Berry or any of the other monster cereals this Halloween, [for the first time, all five monsters are available in stores since the well-received re-release of Frute Brute (1975-1984) and Fruity Yummy Mummy (1987-1992)], expect a sugar high—without the pink poop aftermath. We tasted all five of the cereals and Count Chocula is the best by a long shot.

The best part is when the chocolate “sweeties,” as the marshmallows were called in the original commercials in 1971, are all gone: the plain milk becomes chocolate milk. Let’s be real, what child—or “adult”—prefers regular milk to chocolate? I haven’t met this kind of person.

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food...use-pink-poop/

**CrazyPhuD** · 10-31-2013, 02:51 AM

How do you think PinkBerry originally came up with it's name?

Chest Rockwell · 10-31-2013, 05:14 AM

When I saw "Franken Berry" I thought this was going to be an Urc Burry Halloween thread a la "Our Quarterback is Goofy."

Someone make this so. Please.

whoman69 · 10-31-2013, 08:20 AM

Quisp would never do that

**loochy** · 10-31-2013, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayze

holy shit;.....one of my first memories, seriously, was going to a Taco Bell in sunny Olathe for my first Taco. It was in the original style buildings.

19 cent tacos ftw!

Dayze · 10-31-2013, 08:27 AM

hell, even in high school/shortly after around 1996, we would hit up Taco Bell; I think regular tacos were like $.35.

Now a GD taco is damn near $1.

Beef Supreme · 10-31-2013, 08:29 AM

+1 for Eric Berry wearing a Frankenberry halloween outfit.

**loochy** · 10-31-2013, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayze

hell, even in high school/shortly after around 1996, we would hit up Taco Bell; I think regular tacos were like $.35.

Now a GD taco is damn near $1.

THANKS A LOT OBAMA

BigCatDaddy · 10-31-2013, 08:37 AM

That's awesome. I'd love to leave a pink floater for the next guy to discover.

**loochy** · 10-31-2013, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

...a pink floater...

that sounds like something from urban dictionary

**gblowfish** · 10-31-2013, 08:46 AM

Black licorice will turn your poop green as well.

When I was in high school in the stone age of the 1970's, my pals would fire up a fatty then go on a "Munch-A-Thon." You start at the head of some strip road, like Noland Road or US 40 highway, then stop at every fast food place and order one thing. Eat the thing, then move on to the next one. So, you'd hit McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, Wendy's, Hi-Boy, Long John Silvers etc....until somebody puked.

The things you'll do to entertain yourself in high school....

**Bwana** · 10-31-2013, 08:48 AM

Pink poop hmmm? We may have discovered what the pink stuff is in Mickey D's burgers.

stevieray · 10-31-2013, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bwana

Pink poop hmmm? We may have discovered what the pink stuff is in Mickey D's burgers.

hence McFrankenberry

BigCatDaddy · 10-31-2013, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loochy

that sounds like something from urban dictionary

True. Perhaps something involving a sex swing and McDonalds.

saphojunkie · 10-31-2013, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bwana

Pink poop hmmm? We may have discovered what the pink stuff is in Mickey D's burgers.

I was just scrolling through here to see how long it took.

10-30-2013, 08:28 PM
listopencil Immanentize The Eschaton Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: In Partibus Infidelium Casino cash: $2225880	Franken Berry (Beloved Halloween Cereal) Was Once Medically Found to Cause Pink Poop In 1971, Walt Disney World had just opened in Orlando, Florida. Led Zepplin was about to blow our minds, a prison riot had been shut down at Attica, and all across America, kids were pooping pink. Hundreds of mothers hospitalized their children for fecal testing out of fear of internal bleeding. Within that same year, not-so-coincidentally, General Mills released their classic monster cereals Count Chocula and Franken Berry. The latter was colored red using “Food, Drug and Cosmetics” (FD & C) Red No. 2 and No. 3., originally and chemically known as amaranth, a synthetic color named after the natural flower. The synthetic dye can’t be broken down or absorbed by the body. A 1972 case study, “Benign Red Pigmentation of Stool Resulting from Food Coloring in a New Breakfast Cereal (The Franken Berry Stool),” published in Pediatrics explains the phenomenon later known as “Franken Berry Stool.” A 12-year-old boy was hospitalized for four days after being admitted for possible rectal bleeding. “The stool had no abnormal odor but looked like strawberry ice cream,” Payne reports. Further questioning of the mother revealed that the child had enjoyed a bowl of Franken Berry cereal two days and one day prior to his hospitalization. By the fourth day, they did a little experiment: They fed the boy four bowls of Franken Berry cereal and for the next two days, he passed bright pink stools. But other than pink poop, there were no other symptoms, Payne reports, “Physical examination upon admission revealed [a boy] in no acute distress and with normal vital signs…Physical examination was otherwise unremarkable.” At the time of the study, the product had only been on the market for a few weeks. The author warns that “physicians should be aware of its potential for producing reddish stools.” Other monster cereals at the time also used dyes that caused stool to change colors. Booberry, which debuted in December of 1972, for example, uses Blue No. 1 (a dye currently banned in Norway, Finland and France) and turns stool green. Apparently, green stool seems less life-threatening than the reddish hue caused by Franken Berry. But pink poop wasn’t always the worst side effect from colored confections. Ruth Winters’s A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients details the history of commercial food dyes, including those later used in Franken Berry. At the turn of the 20th century, with virtually no regulation of more than 80 dyes used to color food, the same dyes used for clothes could also be used to color confections and other edibles. In 1906, Congress passed the first legislation for food colors, the Pure Food and Drug Act, deeming seven colors suitable for use in food: orange, erythrosine, ponceu 3R, amaranth (the color later used in Franken Berry cereal), indigotin, naphthol yellow, and light green. Since then, upon further study, several of these choices have been delisted. More than 20 years later, in 1938, Congress passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act which gave these colors numbers instead of chemical names—every batch needed to be certified by the Food and Drug Administration, though some problems still arose: in the fall of 1950, many children became ill from eating an orange Halloween candy containing one to two percent FD&C Orange No. 1, for example. Red Dye No. 2, the one used by the original Franken Berry cereal, was one of the most widely used color additives at the time, until a 1971 Russian study reported that the dyes caused tumors in female rats. Years of research led the FDA to find that even though the Russian study was extremely flawed (the FDA couldn’t even prove that amaranth was one of the dyes used), the agency would remove the dye from its Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) list in 1976. Between public outcry against the dye and the chance that trace elements could potentially have carcinogens, the FDA banned a number of other dyes as well. According to the FDA, 47 other countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, still allow for the use of Red Dye No. 2. That same year, Mars removed their red M&M’s from the candy-color spectrum for nearly a decade, even though Mars didn’t even use Red No. 2; the removal of the red candies was a response to the scare, livescience.com reports: The red food coloring in question was not actually used in M&M’s chocolate candies, according to mms.com. “However, to avoid consumer confusion, the red candies were pulled from the color mix.” Inquiries to General Mills as to when the Franken Berry ingredients switched to less poop-worrying dyes, were not responded to. These days, the only red colors accepted by the FDA are Red No. 40, which appears in all five of the General Mills monster cereals, and Red No. 3, typically used in candied fruits. The symptoms of “Franken Berry Stool” were pretty benign compared to other more notable confectionary mishaps in history: The accidental poisoning of more than 200 people in Bradford, England in 1858 comes to mind. The sweets were accidentally made with arsenic. Let’s be thankful there’s a bit more regulation of food dyes these days. Another stool scare in cereal history: Smurfberry Crunch Cereal, released in 1982 by Post Foods, turned the poop of those who ate it blue—the ultimate Smurfs experience. Post then changed the formula and re-released the cereal in 1987 as Magic Berries Cereal. Looking for a sugar high now? You’re safe. When you open your celebratory, Franken Berry or any of the other monster cereals this Halloween, [for the first time, all five monsters are available in stores since the well-received re-release of Frute Brute (1975-1984) and Fruity Yummy Mummy (1987-1992)], expect a sugar high—without the pink poop aftermath. We tasted all five of the cereals and Count Chocula is the best by a long shot. The best part is when the chocolate “sweeties,” as the marshmallows were called in the original commercials in 1971, are all gone: the plain milk becomes chocolate milk. Let’s be real, what child—or “adult”—prefers regular milk to chocolate? I haven’t met this kind of person. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food...use-pink-poop/
Posts: 55,949

10-31-2013, 02:51 AM	#31
CrazyPhuD Meow Join Date: Jun 2005 Casino cash: $10005050	How do you think PinkBerry originally came up with it's name? __________________ "Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t*rd by the clean end"
Posts: 8,523

10-31-2013, 05:14 AM	#32
Chest Rockwell Y'all are brutalizin' me! Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Jim Bob Cooter 4 Heisman Casino cash: $10000985	When I saw "Franken Berry" I thought this was going to be an Urc Burry Halloween thread a la "Our Quarterback is Goofy." Someone make this so. Please. __________________ MASTER CYLINDER!
Posts: 1,096

10-31-2013, 08:27 AM	#35
Dayze Resident Glue Sniffer Join Date: Nov 2003 Casino cash: $5179358	hell, even in high school/shortly after around 1996, we would hit up Taco Bell; I think regular tacos were like $.35. Now a GD taco is damn near $1. __________________ Life is 99% inspiration, 1% Perspiration, and 1% Attention to Detial. RIP & Godspeed: Saccoppo Lonewolf Ed Fire Me Boy
Posts: 37,361

10-31-2013, 08:29 AM	#36
Beef Supreme MVP Join Date: Oct 2010 Casino cash: $10019560	+1 for Eric Berry wearing a Frankenberry halloween outfit.
Posts: 11,000

10-31-2013, 08:37 AM	#38
BigCatDaddy The Beast Inside Your Head Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Parts Unknown Casino cash: $2019122	That's awesome. I'd love to leave a pink floater for the next guy to discover.
Posts: 25,866

10-31-2013, 08:46 AM	#40
gblowfish Be Kind To Your Pets Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Glorious Independence, MO Casino cash: $17676178 VARSITY	Black licorice will turn your poop green as well. When I was in high school in the stone age of the 1970's, my pals would fire up a fatty then go on a "Munch-A-Thon." You start at the head of some strip road, like Noland Road or US 40 highway, then stop at every fast food place and order one thing. Eat the thing, then move on to the next one. So, you'd hit McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, Wendy's, Hi-Boy, Long John Silvers etc....until somebody puked. The things you'll do to entertain yourself in high school....
Posts: 40,832

10-31-2013, 08:48 AM	#41
Bwana It's Five O'Clock Somewhere Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Billings, Montana Casino cash: $2139543647	Pink poop hmmm? We may have discovered what the pink stuff is in Mickey D's burgers. __________________ Adventure is dangerous....but monotony can kill you.
Posts: 69,740