On Tiktok, videos are trending where people eat candies that are said to be made of beeswax with various sweet fillings. The candy has been around for a long time in the United States but has received a new boost, not least in China.
– On Chinese social media there are many tutorials on how to make the candy at home and it is sold in shops to children. It has also spread to neighboring countries, such as Taiwan and Malaysia, says Hanna Carlsson at the National Knowledge Center on China.
May contain heavy metals
Now warns Chinese authorities and Chinese state media because the candy can be made of industrial wax instead of beeswax. Industrial wax is used, among other things, for surface treatment of floors, cars and textiles. The wax may contain heavy metals such as lead and mercury.
– Heavy metals are not at all good to ingest. If you consume it in high concentrations for a long time, you can have negative health effects, says Joakim Meuller Bäckman at the Swedish Food Agency.
Many of the packages also lack a list of contents and specified manufacturers.
Easy to get hold of
The candy is easy to get hold of in Sweden, SVT Nyheter’s survey shows.
The Swedish company Partykungen distributes a wax candy brand. In the list of contents, it is not clear what type of wax is used.
When SVT searches for the Party King, they reply that they will check with the manufacturer what kind of wax it is, but that the product has stopped being manufactured.
Via Tiktok we find another company that ships worldwide from the USA. On the website it says that they use beeswax, but when we ask for a full list of ingredients from the company, we don’t get one, on the other hand, they say that the candy only contains water, jam and beeswax.
Trade with caution
According to Joakim Meuller Bäckman, it happens that food that does not meet EU or Swedish requirements is sold from other countries to Sweden.
– When we monitor the world around us and look at what is available online, we see that there is quite a lot out there that we in Sweden and the EU see as unsafe. And therefore should not be sold.
He advises those with a sweet tooth to be careful with orders:
– Even if food is sold on social media, there must be information about who is actually selling the product. If there are doubts as to who is actually behind the sale, I think you should refrain from buying.