Latest / The Monégasque Table / Does Edible Glitter Show Up in Poop? An Honest Answer
Transcript
- Margaux: Every show that answers real questions eventually meets its destiny. Ours arrived in the mailbag, in crayon, more than once. Dana: It did not arrive in crayon. But it should have: does edible glitter show up in poop? Margaux: Welcome to The Monégasque Table — Ask the Table edition, dignity optional. And yes, we're answering it properly, because there's an honest chemistry answer AND a real safety point hiding under the giggle. Dana: Verdict up front. The 8-year-olds are waiting. Margaux: Here's the answer up front: at the doses anyone actually uses — a pinch is 0.1 grams — you almost certainly won't notice anything. The pigment is a mineral. Per its safety data sheet it doesn't dissolve in water and it shrugs off acid and alkali both — which means digestion has nothing to grab onto, so what goes in simply passes through, unchanged and unbothered, mixed into everything else you ate. A tenth of a gram spread through a whole day of food is not putting on a light show for anyone. Dana: "Almost certainly." I heard the hedge, and I want it on the record, because this is my round. Nobody — nobody — has published a peer-reviewed sparkle-visibility study. There is no data. Any show, video, or confident person at a party who tells you definitively what your glitter does on the way out is making it up. Margaux: That's the round you win, and it's the most scientifically responsible sentence ever spoken on this show: we don't know, nobody's measured it, and we're not going to pretend. What we DO know is the chemistry — insoluble, acid-resistant, stable, per the safety data sheet — and that same sheet's ingestion note says significant toxicity from swallowing it is unlikely. Which is exactly what you'd expect from a mineral your body treats as scenery. Dana: Okay. Now do the part that made this a safety episode and not just my favorite episode title of the season. Margaux: Because the question behind the question is the one that matters: WHAT did you swallow? Everything I just said — passes through, no drama — applies to genuinely edible glitter: pigments listed in the federal color-additive regulations, 21 CFR 73.350, with the ingredients printed on the label, as the law requires. Craft glitter is a different object entirely. It's craft supply — not food, never tested as food, never meant to be swallowed. And this isn't hypothetical: in 2018 and 2019, health departments in Rhode Island and Missouri investigated poisonings from cakes decorated with non-edible luster dusts that contained high levels of copper, lead, and other metals. The sparkle looked identical. The label was the only visible difference. Dana: So the kid-proof version: the boring question is "will I see it later." The important question is "was it food when I ate it." And you answer that one BEFORE anyone eats anything, by reading the jar. Margaux: That's the whole safety lesson in 2 sentences. If the label lists ingredients — real, named, food ones — sparkle away and let digestion be boring. If it says "for decorative purposes only," or lists nothing at all, it doesn't go near food, full stop. Dana: And the genuinely-worried-parent scenario? Because a kid unsupervised with a glitter jar is a when, not an if. Margaux: If a child gets into a jar of the edible kind, the honest chemistry above is on your side — but if it's a large amount, or ANY amount of craft glitter, that's a call to poison control or your pediatrician, not a podcast. We do sparkle here; medical calls go to professionals. Dana: Who should skip this product entirely? Keep the streak alive. Margaux: Anyone hoping for a visible souvenir — that's not a promise anyone can make you. And anyone who won't read a label before feeding sparkle to their family: this category's whole dark corner exists because shimmer got sold without ingredient lists. Reading the jar is the price of admission. Dana: Mini scorecard, crayon-ready: a pinch is 0.1 grams, and the mineral doesn't dissolve — it passes through, and you almost certainly won't see it. Nobody's studied the sparkle question, and honest shows say so. The real question is what you swallowed — and the label answers it before your stomach has to. Margaux: Footnote for the curious: the MONÉGASQUE Magic Rainbow 10 gram drink glitter is on Amazon — full ingredient list printed on the jar, about $15, roughly 100 servings of completely boring digestion per jar. Check the listing for current pricing. Dana: Next time: with Halloween on the horizon, we're mapping the whole dessert table — beyond the cake, what does glitter actually work on? Margaux: Strawberries, cookies, chocolate, and one very committed skeleton cake — that's next. This show is produced by the team at Monégasque, with AI-crafted hosts, and every number you heard was checked by humans against the documents. See you at the table.