Flushed With Delight

A 5-year-old British girl’s face and hands have turned orange after she drank two-thirds of a gallon of the fruit drink Sunny Delight for several days. The beverage contains significant levels of provitamin A (beta carotene), which is partly responsible for the orange color in carrots.

“[Beta carotene] is harmless,” said a spokesman for Procter & Gamble, maker of Sunny Delight, “and there is no risk of toxicity, although we recommend that children have a mixed diet, and this includes a mixed range of drinks.”

Killer Noodles

All of Hanoi is in a furor. Something is wrong with the noodles. The Associated Press reports that a government investigation has turned up traces of formaldehyde in noodles prepared in seven of 10 major factories in the Vietnamese capital; six of nine in Ho Chi Minh City. Because noodles are such a staple of the country’s diet, this is big news.

Health officials have said the tiny amounts of formaldehyde used--less than a thousandth of an ounce for every two pounds of noodles--would not cause immediate health problems, although they could cause harm in the long run. The compound was added to the food to increase its shelf life.

The controversy, prominently reported in the government-controlled media, has hurt hundreds of eateries specializing in pho, Vietnam’s traditional soup.

“This is killing us,” Nguyen Mai Anh, who runs one of the city’s best-known noodle shops, said Wednesday. She reported a 90% drop in business over the last two weeks.