Overview
- Product Safety Australia announced the recall on Monday for five Creative Cake Decorating metallic colours sold since 2019, with consumers told to stop use and return items for refunds.
- Fourteen-month-old Dustin “Dusty” Wildman inhaled the dust on May 1 and required emergency airway procedures and an induced coma at Queensland Children’s Hospital.
- Laboratory testing found copper and zinc compounds in the powder, and doctors said fine metal dust can coat airways and turn into a paste that blocks breathing.
- Supplier Crumb Australia had already removed stock and asked retailers to destroy remaining product, saying the powders are for removable cake ornaments and not for consumption.
- Dusty has been discharged home and is on respiratory therapy as doctors monitor possible long-term lung injury, and the case has highlighted confusing “non-toxic” labels and non-edible powders sold beside edible decorations.