A Minecraft Movie has proven an enormous success, thanks in no small part to an all-out marketing blitz that's seen the game popping up everywhere from McDonalds to Monster Munch. One tie-in might make you pause for thought, however: Minecraft "Vanilla Green Lowfat Milk", which is also known as Creeper milk.
The product is being made by TruMoo (alongside a Minecraft chocolate milk) and is available in the US until June 30 (thanks, GameSpot). It also uses "petroleum-based synthetic dyes" to get that distinctive hue: Minecraft Vanilla Green milk contains a food dye known as Blue No. 1, which is scheduled to be phased out of foodstuffs by the end of 2026.
Blue No. 1 is one of various synthetic colourings being targeted by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), because of concerns over potential links to behavioural changes in kids including hyperactivity and allergic reactions.
"For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent," said US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end. We’re restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public’s trust. And we’re doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day."
The FDA's goal is to make the food industry switch to natural alternatives. "Today, the FDA is asking food companies to substitute petrochemical dyes with natural ingredients for American children as they already do in Europe and Canada," said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. "We have a new epidemic of childhood diabetes, obesity, depression, and ADHD. Given the growing concerns of doctors and parents about the potential role of petroleum-based food dyes, we should not be taking risks and do everything possible to safeguard the health of our children."
Perhaps it needs saying, but Creeper milk is not a thing in Minecraft or indeed in A Minecraft Movie. And I'm not really sure why one would wish to drink the milk of a creature whose main behaviour is violently exploding: but then I'm not in marketing.
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