(TheIndependentStar.com) – Sprinklegate sounds like some odd political scandal, but the real story is something more bizarre. Banned confections and mad bakers star in this saga unfolding in the UK.
Get Baked, a bakery in Leeds, is suffering a scandal, owner Rich Myers, dubbed Sprinklegate. The bakery’s best-seller is the doughnut cookie, which Myers had to pull off the shelves because the coloring in the sprinkles is illegal in the UK. On October 1, an inspector came to the bakery after a tip that Myers was using the forbidden topping.
'Sprinklegate' sinks a U.K. bakery's top sellers after topping is found to be illegal https://t.co/gx7RaN2uBA via @NPR
— Katie Rosenberg ✌ (@katierosenberg) October 16, 2021
Myers gets the topping from the US. He says British sprinkles are not the same and taste horrible. He refuses to use them, and now, because of his inability to use the US version, he says the famed doughnut cookies will probably never be back on the menu.
He said if he can’t use the sprinkles he wants, he will use none. The baker admitted he gets rather passionate when it comes to the banned confectionary décor.
The West Yorkshire Trading Standards outlaw the toppings because they contain erythrosine, or FD&C Red No. 3. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restricts the use of the coloring agent in high doses. In studies, the dye caused cancer in some lab animals. It may also have a link to hyperactivity in children. The UK only allows its use in certain goods, such as cocktail cherries and egg dye.
After reviewing and testing the topping from Get Baked, the final ruling is that they are indeed of the banned variety, and Myers therefore cannot use them. The baker kept the public up to date on Sprinklegate through his social media, where he sent a message to the person who reported him through a quote from Come Dine with Me: “Dear Lord, what a sad little life, Jane.”
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