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Christmas is a time a lot of us like to treat ourselves to some sweet treats. But we've found American candy on sale across the country, that contain ingredients that are illegal in UK. The market for US sweets is booming, but Dr Punam finds out of the health implications some of the ingredients can have on us. We join a local Trading Standards team as they seize hundreds of pounds worth of goods from just one corner shop.

Unauthorised ingredients in sweets and drinks:
As Dr. Punam found, some American sweets and drinks which are sold legally in the USA contain ingredients that are not authorised in the UK, mainly because of the health risks they carry. If you鈥檙e shopping for American sweets and drinks, you may want to look out for the following ingredients, which aren鈥檛 allowed.

In food:鈥�
Mineral Oil鈥‥127 or Erythrosine (shown on US products as Red 3). It鈥檚 only allowed in cocktail cherries.鈥�
Bleached Flour鈥˙rominated Vegetable Oil (BVO)

In drinks:鈥�
Calcium Disodium EDTA (E385)鈥�
Erythorbic Acid (E315)
There are also some colourings which are allowed, but have been linked to hyperactivity in children.
If any of these are included in a product, the label must have a warning which says: 鈥榤ay have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children鈥�.
Sunset Yellow FCF (E110)鈥�
Quinoline Yellow (E104)鈥�
Carmoisine (E122)鈥�
Allura Red (E129)鈥�
Tartrazine (E102)
Yellow 5鈥≒onceau 4R (E124)

There are some versions of these sweets made for the UK market which don鈥檛 contain any of the unauthorised ingredients, so keep an eye on those ingredient lists.

Here are the sweet manufacturers' replies to our film:

-Mountain Dew did not provide a statement

-Swedish Fish did not provide a statement

-Hot Tamales did not provide a statement

-Sunny Delight did not provide a statement

-Lemonheads replied with a statement:
Ferrara does not sell Lemonheads in the U.K. and currently has no distributors authorised to sell Lemonheads into the U.K. Any inventory found on retail shelves is acquired by the seller through unauthorised, grey market channels. Ferrara complies with all local and national laws and regulations and will continue to do so in the future.

-Starburst Gummies replied with a statement:
A Mars Wrigley UK spokesperson said: 鈥淎ll Mars Wrigley ingredients are safe and manufactured in compliance with strict quality and safety requirements established by food safety regulators in the respective regions they are sold in. Mars Wrigley complies with market regulations, and we have been working to prevent unauthorised third-party importation and distribution of our Mars Wrigley products into the UK.鈥�

-Hershey鈥檚 and Jolly Ranchers replied with a statement:
Hershey is a global brand with a wide audience. We encourage all consumers to purchase Hershey products from established retailers. We understand that our products can sometimes be purchased in different markets than intended. In these situations, Hershey cannot guarantee that the products will comply with the regulatory requirements of the end market, if they differ from the market for which they were originally produced.

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