One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Easter Basket Buzzkill: Your Candy Contains Beaver Buttholes
Photo by Krista Simmons/LAist
Here's yet another reason to buy local sweets this Easter season: Your candy-filled baskets might have a lot more in them than you bargained for. We're talking things like the anal glands of beavers and a petroleum product that's used to make wood varnish.
According to the health team over at HuffPo, even a modest Easter basket contains a minimum of 1,000 calories worth of sugar alone. But that should be the least of your concerns.
Cadbury cream eggs contain an artificial sweetener called castoreum, a derivative from the excretions of beaver anal glands that's often in "natural" flavoring for vanilla and raspberry flavored-products. Just because the dam-builders are on Nat Geo doesn't mean they're natural and should be in our bod. Geeze.
Sadly one of our favorite Springtime sweets, the Reese's Peanut Butter Egg, is also on the list.
"The preservative TBHQ (tertiary butyl hydroquinone) is a derivative of petroleum that's found in cosmetics, wood varnish and this candy. The FDA approved the drug at less than .02 percent of a food's fat content because higher doses can be toxic. In fact, 5 grams of the stuff can be deadly and 1 gram can cause reactions like nausea, vomiting and ringing in the ears."
Then there are the things that would thoroughly freak out vegans, like the gelatin that's made from collagen in the skin (and hooves and nails) of horses and pigs in Peeps, or the "shellac" or confectioner's glaze made from secretions of female lac bugs that coats jelly beans.
So you may want to be passing on that Peep cocktail after all, and head straight for the sustainably raised ham. Or the barf bag. We're still gagging after the thought of beaver buttholes.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
