Dear Customer,

We have been informed that the Food Standards Agency (“FSA”) has been investigating the use of glycerol (also known as glycerine or glycerin) in slush drinks following two young children becoming unwell. One of the confirmed incidents involved a toddler (under the age of three) consuming an excessive amount of slush from an alternative supplier. The toddler consumed over 1 litre of slush in a short period of time at a venue serving free refills.

Customer safety is paramount to Polar Krush and we immediately contacted the FSA to discuss their investigation once it was brought to our attention. We have now been in consultation with the FSA, alongside other industry stakeholders, following the FSA concluding their in-depth risk assessment.

Glycerol has been used in slush drinks, including ours, and multiple other food products for several years.
It is an approved food additive and the European Food Safety Authority (“EFSA”) concluded in their re-evaluation of glycerol in 2017 that there was no need for a numerical Acceptable Daily Intake (“ADI”) and no safety concerns regarding it’s use as a food additive.

The FSA has not identified in their risk assessment any proposed changes to glycerol’s use as a food additive. However, they did raise concerns over the potential impact that excessive glycerol1 could pose to the health of younger children especially as a result of the encouragement of excessive consumption via the business model of free refills.

The industry has now agreed voluntary guidance for the sale of slush drinks which Polar Krush fully supports. Polar Krush is a responsible company and does not advocate excessive consumption of any food and drink, especially amongst younger children.

The three primary agreed areas of guidance requiring action by resellers are:

• Slush drinks containing glycerol are not recommended to be sold to children of 4 years of age or under;
• A written warning is to be visible at the point of sale (“POS”) highlighting “Product contains glycerol. Not recommended for children 4 years of age and under”; and
• The business model of free refills is not recommended in venues where children under the age of 10 years will consume them.

The actions we are taking to support you with the guidance are as follows:

• We are procuring new stickers which can be added to our machines with the POS guidance messaging. These will be available to order free of charge from our online shop shortly;
• POS leaflets have been produced detailing our ingredients alongside the agreed POS message requirements. We have attached this to the email;
• All digital POS display messages that have been generated by Polar Krush Group can be updated upon request to include the new POS guidance.

These requirements are simply industry guidelines and as such there is no coming into force date.

However, as best practice we wished to share these with you upon them being agreed and would advise that these are put in place with immediate effect.

Please can you advise your employees of the changes so that they are aware of the changes and the age guidance.

Thank you for your support and continued custom.

Simon Hewitson

Chief Executive Officer
Polar Krush Group

1- Explanatory text for FSA website: “Slush ice drinks can contain the ingredient glycerol as a substitute for sugar, at a level required to create the ‘slush’ effect. At this level, we recommend that children four years of age and under should not consume these drinks, due to their potential to cause side-effects such as headaches and sickness, particularly when consumed in excess.”