I have never used dragees before, but I love the way the look, and was thinking about ordering some to use for cakes and cupcakes. I have read just about everywhere that they should not be eaten because they are basically coated in metal, and that's fine. What I don't understand is how some beautiful cakes can be encased in them. I just really can't see telling a client that every guest is going to have to meticulously take off all of the decorations before eating their cake, or they risk getting poisoned. For some reason I just can't figure out how to tell someone their wedding cake is coated in something that is dangerous if eaten. How do you guys explain this to clients? Do they ever react poorly to this?

Here in California that decision is easy...no one in the state sells dragees (and online retailers do not ship them to CA) because of a lawsuit filed in 2003.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/23/MNGS03SUEM1.DTL&ao=all

They are primarily sugar. The amount of dragees it would take to make someone sick would make them sick anyway even if they didn't have a metallic coating. Which many don't. There are the sugar dragees that are pearlized that are completely edible as well as the shiny ones. I would not want to coat anything with the silver or gold ones anyway because they are very hard and probably stand a better chance of chipping your teeth than sending you into a toxic overload.

Metallic Dragees are usually used sparingly and as accents here and there. When they are used as part of a flower, or in something like that, chances are they won't get eaten anyway. Don't fear the dragee.

I have seen the pearlized ones without metal, but I was talking more about the metallic ones. I was definitely worried about poisoning people lol. I will have to get some and try them out! Thanks!

Wait....No where in CA sells these? This is crazy I looked in every supermarket for these little silver balls to put on a cake as a necklace/dog tag I could not locate them anywhere. Then I found a cake supply shop that had all different sizes. Could it be possible they have non-toxic ones.
I take Jason Kraft very seriously and I love that he always answers questions and attaches articles to back up his story. I follow a lot of his posts.
I am affraid I bought toxic silver balls. I do not sell my cakes they are only for friends and family but I dont want to make someone sick. Should I throw them out? Should I ask the retail shop if they are suppossed to be selling them?

Silver is toxic, but the amount of silver in dragees is so small it should not cause a problem, as said above I would be more worried about chipping a tooth -- which is a real liability concern considering dragees are marked "for decoration only".

I would definitely remove the dragees before serving (or tell whoever is serving to do so).

As to why the cake supply shop was selling them, it's possible that they have not heard of the lawsuit threat. It's not illegal to sell dragees in CA, but no one is willing to take the risk for the small reward.

If these were actually that bad for people they would have been banned everywhere for sale. The lawyer is an environmentalist that thinks he should protect anyone who would eat these. There have been absolutley no cases of health risk to dragees. In another article that I read it was stated that to actually have a lead or silver potential hazard a person would have to eat more than a dump truck of them all at once. If you are too concerned about this then don't use them.

It takes one person suing to make people not want any potential bad publicity to settle. i will still use them and always have. It is your choice to make.

Awesome thanks for the good info. I like to try and stay on the up & up

As for the cake store selling in CA - they probably had to get them imported from France or another country - no US supplier will ship to California. The cake store can sell them, but they have to be "behind the counter" and/or away from other edibles, and the package has to be marked "for decorative purposes only, not for human consumption" or something like that. This is what my local cake store told me several months ago when I asked them how they were selling them!

I have some that I have considered using in the center of a gumpaste flower or something I know has no chance of being eaten, but I keep chickening out. It's not worth it to me.

Wow! Lots of good information, thanks for posting.

I know Tulsa, us kooks in San Francisco who run around naked rubbing our naughty bits all over your cake are a scary bunch. In fact, I keep my skin nice and soft by bathing in the butter I put into my buttercream. Don't even ask me how I bake my bread or pickle my cucumbers

It's not just CA, FYI. You will be disqualified from a cake competition for using non-edible dragees on your cake. They are not considered a food item. The end.

OK, wait, are you serious? You actually think there are people naked eating in restaurants and whatnot all over here in SF?

That's completely ridiculous. And one of the funniest things I've read on here for a while LOL

You can't buy them here in FL either. From what I understand it's illegal to sell them here but I could buy them online and have them shipped to me....unlike CA.
Although I love the look, it's just not worth the risk.

I think this is the article that caused the OMG SAN FRANCISCO IS NAKED thing.

I've seen quite a few naked people in the Castro but --it's the Castro. Other than that, there is not a whole lot of naked in SF.

That's funny. My sister used to dump a LOT of dragees in her vanilla yougart as a kid. We had no idea they were not to eat and she liked the crunch.

Wow! I did not know this. I use them all the time and my daughter likes to suck on them, then look at the sugar ball to see what color it is! Guess she won't be doing that anymore! Thanks for the info.!

All of you are hilarious! Nice to see a sense of humor for a change. And it's very encouraging that not everyone takes themselves seriously.

Thank you so much!

Wait, I also heard nakedness in SF was legal. Please tell me it's not true. And why do we all think it is?

And another thing, since when is shellac really good for a body - what do you think is sprayed all over shiney candies - yes, the governments says it's ok to digest a certain amount of shellac on candies and food items - for the sake of making them look more appealing - hence the phrase eye candy.

LOL! I didn't know this thread was still going!

I don't know if being naked is illegal, actually. I have seen naked people, but have never just seen naked people walking down the street, shopping, and doing daily life things. I only see the naked people for events like Bay to Breakers or the Folsom Street Fair. But then again, I'm a resident and not a tourist so I don't do any of the tourist things.

I'll tell you one thing, no cop is going to arrest a naked person unless they are doing something really disruptive like also being drunk. There are way too many real criminals to deal with, no point in messing with someone letting their fun bags breath or a dude letting the little man hang in the breeze (and I mean LITTLE. It's COLD here.) LOL

Yeah when we little kids decorating x-mas cookies we always had to have the little silver balls,,if we didn't have them we felt like we were missing something. I think I ate alot of them

I'd be more worried about grandpa breaking his crowns off when he tries to bite into one of them than about him getting silver poisoning from them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Food_Defect_Action_Levels

I think it's funny when people get all up in arms about a little bit of silver being consumed around christmas time, and yet ground cinnamon can have up to 79 insect fragments per 10 grams and still be considered safe to eat. And that's just insect fragments, then there's acceptable levels of maggots, rodent hairs, mold, feces. Yes, feces.

Dragees sound yummy now.