- A number of children in Indonesia have reportedly been injured after eating a liquid nitrogen dessert.
- Often referred to as “dragon’s breath,” the snack is quite the spectacle for its smoke.
- Liquid nitrogen foods have been popular on the internet for years.
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A number of children in Indonesia were recently injured after eating candy coated in liquid nitrogen, a street snack often referred to as “dragon’s breath” or “ciki ngebul,” according to multiple outlets.
Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, the director-general of Indonesia’s health ministry, told the Guardian about 25 children were negatively affected by the food, including two who were hospitalized. Indonesian digital news outlet Kompas, citing the director of environmental health at the Indonesian Health Ministry, reported that at least 10 cases of people with food poisoning from the dessert had been found.
Indonesian outlet Kontan released a timeline detailing several isolated cases, including one in which a child reportedly required surgery because the snack tore a hole in his stomach.
Consuming this type of liquid nitrogen snack poses several health risks, and doctors have already warned against it. The liquid nitrogen is so cold it can burn the skin and body, and it can also cause suffocation, said Dr. Reed Caldwell, an assistant professor in the Ronald O. Perelman Division of Emergency Medicine at NYU Langone Health, told Today.com.
In 2018, the Food and Drug Administration issued a dragon’s breath alert, noting that “injuries had occurred from handling or consuming products prepared by adding liquid nitrogen immediately prior to consumption, even after the liquid nitrogen was removed.” the food had completely evaporated due to the extremely low temperature.”
Indonesia’s Health Ministry has warned cellphone vendors not to sell the snacks and recommended other precautions, such as informing children in schools, the Guardian reported. The Department of Health did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The food — essentially candy (or sometimes granola) doused in liquid nitrogen, giving it a striking visual appearance when smoke billows from the dessert — has been featured in YouTube videos and tweets for years. It’s called “dragon’s breath” because it allows smoke to pour out of the consumer’s mouth and nostrils.
Candy coated in liquid nitrogen is also a popular phenomenon on TikTok, with a trending hashtag above it (“Dragon’s Breath”) amassing over 200 million cumulative views. However, Insiders could only find one recently uploaded video of a child enjoying the candy, and it had under a thousand views.
TikTok didn’t respond to Insider’s request for comment on whether the platform had already cracked down on clips of the candy.
Tiktok is often blamed for dangerous trends that didn’t even emerge on the platform or were similarly prevalent on platforms like Facebook or YouTube.
A supposed trend of kids putting magnets in their mouths to make fake piercings has been credited to TikTok, though variations of this game have existed for decades, and Insiders couldn’t find any indication the craze took hold on the platform.