LGC has published results of laboratory research used to identify and classify a specific type of sweet that is prone to cause death by choking.
The sweets (jelly mini-cups containing Konjac and other additives) were banned in the UK in 2004, following several deaths among young children and elderly consumers.
Recent seizures of these jelly sweets have led to the Food Standards Agency writing to local authorities across the UK to remind them of the ban on the import and sale of such sweets.
The definition in law of what constitutes a 'jelly mini-cup' remains open to interpretation, therefore placing enforcement authorities, importers and retailers in a difficult position when deciding if a particular product can be certified definitively as dangerous.
A potential solution to the problem of a clear definition is reported in a scientific paper published in March 2011 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Food Analytical Methods.
In the paper, Michael Walker and colleagues from LGC describe work they carried out as part of the Government Chemist function, a statutory role that LGC continues to maintain.
They describe a simple analytical strategy to determine if a product falls within the legal definition and therefore represents a potential choking hazard.
The tests described in the paper include solubility in artificial saliva and other characteristics such as size, weight and shape.
If an object lodged in the airway causing total blockage does not dissolve within a short critical time period, asphyxiation will result in tissue anoxia that will cause irreversible brain damage and/or death.
A sweet of a particular size and shape lodged in the airway may also induce bronchospasm or laryngospasm, exacerbating the possibility of asphyxiation.
'This work gives both trade and official laboratories readily available tools to predict if a choking risk is presented and if so, the product can be swiftly prevented from coming onto the UK market,' said Dr Derek Craston, a chemist working for the UK government.
The paper, entitled 'Analytical strategy for the evaluation of a specific food choking risk, a case study on jelly mini-cups' is available online.
