Photos of paracetamol ice cream sold in the Netherlands continue to circulate on social media: however, it is fake news. The ice cream was prepared for the carnival by Jan Nagelkerke in 2016, but was never put on sale
No, paracetamol ice cream is not sold in the countries Bass. The news, which spread widely on social media, originates from an event that occurred in 2016. During the carnival of that year, the Maddy’s patisserie in Oudenboscha small village in the Netherlands, created paracetamol ice cream as a joke to attract attention.
The intention was to propose a product that recalled the theme of hangovers, typical of carnival celebrations. The ice cream contained 20 paracetamol tablets for six liters of productalong with lemon juice to give it a fresh flavor.
However, this dessert . Jan Nagelkerke, owner of the pastry shop, had displayed it exclusively in the window as a curiosity. “It’s delicious and refreshing and helps with carnival hangovers“, read the post on Facebook, which it clearly specified that the product was not for sale.
It cannot be marketed without the necessary authorizations
Subsequently, the Dutch Food Safety Authority reiterated that ice cream containing drugs such as paracetamol without the necessary authorizations. If the product had contained significant quantities of the active ingredient, it would have been classified as a drug and would have required a specific license.
Even in the case of minimal quantities, it would have been considered a “novel food”, subject to approval by the European Commission. Precisely for this reason, after the indications received from the authorities, Nagelkerke decided to remove the product from the window and not repeat the initiative. He then clarified that the paracetamol ice cream had been a playful experiment and that, as a precaution, he had also eliminated the unexposed portions.
However, despite these clarifications, the image of this ice cream and its descriptions continue to circulate on social media. They have already gone viral again in 2019 and we still find some posts these days, which is again generating confusion.
We therefore reiterate that . It was merely a publicity stunt that social media and the web persist in spreading passing it off as real news (and for current even though it is now dated).
