Dessert Decorations Safety Testing
With shows like The Great American Baking Show, dessert decorations are going beyond a basic bakery wedding cake fondant flowers and sugary homemade cupcake sprinkles. Nowadays, everything from bakery wedding cakes to kid’s mom’s home-baked cupcakes can be likened to high-priced artwork. While safety is a bigger concern for decorative dessert products that are edible like flowers, sugar candies, and fondant shapes most do not give much thought to the inedible bakery dessert decorations, baker’s tools, and baked goods packaging.
FDA Regulation of Dessert Decorations
For inedible dessert decorations, many people simply throw the spoon in the dishwasher, blow out the birthday cupcake candles, and toss the cake topper in a drawer for the next decorating adventure. But these candles, plastic tooth-pick signs, and decorative cake toppers come in contact with edible parts of the cake, cookies, pastries, and muffins and need to be shown to be safe, clean, and non-hazardous. This is especially true as many of these dessert decorations may be imported or made by non-food manufacturing companies like party-good or novelty manufacturers. These dessert decorations are made of many different products including fabrics, plastics, ceramics, and metals making their safety hard to determine. So, how do you know if those cake and cupcake dessert decorations, baker’s tools, and food packaging are safe?
FDA REGULATION OF DESSERT DECORATIONS
These inedible dessert decorations may come in contact with baked goods and by the US Food and Drug Administration FDA standards are regulated as food products through the FDA’s CFSAN Division.
The FDA regulates both inedible and edible dessert decorations as food. Therefore, manufacturers are required to ensure they are safe and in compliance with the FDA food regulations, laws, and guidance. Are you a party goods manufacturer, bakery, restaurant, or caterer that decorates baked goods, desserts, or confectionaries? Submit Food Safety Test Requests
