10 90s Snacks That Got Banned for Almost Killing You | Ranked

The 90s were all about taking risks

People took risks with their clothes, haircuts, and also the things they put in their mouths

That's why we're bringing you this list of 10 90s snacks that got banned for almost killing you

Welcome to Ranked, the show where we rank everything. Number 10. Lay's Wow Potato Chips

The 90s were the birthplace of some seriously weird dieting trends, and the potato chip industry desperately wanted to make their product more appealing to people who

were counting calories. Seeking a way to cut out the fat from their products, Frito-Lay would

release a new brand of potato chips called WOW. Utilizing a new calorie-free fat substitute known

as Olestra, their potato chips could now provide the same flavor without adding any fat or calories

The only issue with Olestra is that it causes some serious problems in the gastrointestinal

track leading to cramping, stomach aches, and leakage. The FDA would quickly require any

and all products made with Olestra to have a clear warning printed on the label. As appetizing as it

is to have the words leakage and fecal incontinence printed on the side of your food

product, ew. Lay's would discontinue production of the chips in 2000 after a significant decrease

in sales. Bring back Lay's Wow chips with a Westron. Mr. Griffin, those chips were recalled

in the 90s for causing explosive diarrhea. Number nine, Haribo sugar-free gummy bears

Gummy bears, you know them, you love them. There was a cartoon about them that may or may not have

been about an alcoholic family of bears. What you may not know was that at one point in time

Haribo, the company who makes gummy bears, would release a sugar-free option

of their famous bear-shaped treat. That sounds nice, right? A guilt-free handful of candy

Who doesn't love that? The answer is most people. Instead of sugar, these candies were sweetened

with a sugar alcohol called mylitol, which is also a really effective laxative

It's coming out of me like lava! Consuming more than 20 of these candies from hell

would have resulted in what has been described as gastrointestinal Armageddon. Now, we all know that diarrhea

can cause extreme dehydration. So the risk of them killing you would definitely still be there had Haribo not decided to discontinue selling the accidental laxatives some time ago What came out of me felt like someone tried to funnel Niagara Falls

through a coffee straw. We strongly recommend heading over to Amazon and reading the rest of

these reviews. Lifesavers holes. Putting a hole in the middle of your candy is a really sneaky way

to deprive people of candy. But Lifesavers had a plan to deliver that missing candy to consumers

by releasing Lifesavers holes, which were heavily inspired by donut holes. These tic-tac-sized treats became an instant hit with kids

and also created an army of miniature maraca enthusiasts. No, no! No, no! No, no! No, no. No, no

This candy was discontinued when it was discovered that the packaging presented a pretty severe choking hazard

Despite the public outcry to re-release these miniature candies, the irony of choking to death on something called a lifesaver

was probably just a little too much for them to deal with. They currently have no plans to bring them back

Number seven, candy cigarettes. The creation of candy cigarettes can be traced back to the early 1920s

So they didn't start in the 90s, but they were definitely around. You see, once upon a time, smoking was so popular

it was actually prescribed by doctors to help relieve stress. By the 1960s, everyone was smoking, even the Flintstones

And cigarette manufacturers would attempt to use candy companies to reach an untapped market of potential smokers, children

Utilizing predatory marketing tactics, cigarette companies would market bubblegum cigarettes to children by supplying candy manufacturers with branded packaging

that would even go as far as coating the confections in powdered sugar so that children could simulate smoking by blowing clouds of sugary particles into the air

So, can candy cigarettes kill you? Yeah, they can. In a study done by University of Rochester, they found that out of 25,000 people

adults who had consumed candy cigarettes as children were twice as likely to become smokers

as adults. So it is safe to say that using candy cigarettes in your adolescent years

can lead you to asking Santa for a tracheotomy in an oxygen tank for Christmas in your late 20s

While you can still find candy cigarettes in some stores, they have been banned from 25 countries

most schools, North Dakota, Tennessee, and St Paul Minnesota Number six Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Sour Cherry Chew Now this snack was released in the early 2000s but we gonna call that time period 90s adjacent Sour candy is something

many children enjoy torturing themselves with, and candy companies like to push the limit by

exploring how much lip puckering, jaw stinging punishment their consumers can endure. Enter in

the deadly taffy chew ironically named toxic waste. This ultra-sour taffy bar would live up to its name

when it was revealed that the candy was actually, well, toxic. The taffy contained more than twice the legal amount of lead

based on the FDA guidelines at the time. Now, as fun as lead poisoning sounds

it's not something that needs to be actively experienced, and the candy was discontinued in 2011

before anyone was seriously harmed. Number five, the Lazy Larry. Lazy Larry is another snack that comes from the 90s adjacent era of the 2000s. It was a sleepy time brownie made by the Tennessee based company HHB. These pot brownie knockoffs were laced with a heavy handed dose of the sleep inducing supplement known as melatonin

Also referred to as lazy cakes, eating one of these brownies posed some serious risks to anyone operating a vehicle or heavy machinery

And it wasn't long before the FDA would step in and ban the company from selling any more of them based on the fact that there wasn't any data supporting the fact that melatonin is a safe additive to food

Another issue the FDA had with the product was that it was clearly marketed as if it had weed in it

And they were worried people would consume too many of them, which would put them well over the recommended daily dose of melatonin

Lazy cakes are currently in a state of legal limbo, as HHB is currently trying to get the courts to recognize them as a nutritional supplement

Number four, Lucas. Lucas was a powdered candy seasoning produced by the Mexican subsidiary of Mars Inc

It was originally intended to be a seasoning that you could sprinkle on fruit to make delicious fresh fruit taste like salty, spicy trash

Did children use it for the intended purpose? No! Children started pouring the salted sugar into their mouths and started snorting it

If children reenacting scenes from The Wolf of Wall Street with fruit seasoning doesn't seem dangerous enough

well you should know that the candy was also recalled for having high levels of lead It was eventually discontinued in 2007 Number three Kinder Eggs Italian chocolatier Kinder would endanger the lives of children across the globe with the release of their Kinder

surprise eggs. These chocolate eggs weren't filled with cream, nougat, or fudge. They were actually

filled with a plastic shell containing an extremely consumable toy, roughly the size of a child's

esophagus. Aside from their clear and present choking hazard, the eggs were swiftly banned in

the United States due to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. While the candy is still legal

in Canada and Mexico, smuggling them into the United States can lead to some pretty hefty fines

In Seattle, in 2012, two men were caught with six Kinder Surprise eggs and they were subject to a

reported $2,500 per egg. Number two, Nestle Magic Ball. What do you do when you see a competing

candy company making money off of a potential choking hazard, you copy them entirely. At least

that's what Nestle did when they released the Nestle Magic Ball. To avoid infringing on Kinder's

current stranglehold on the deadly chocolate egg market, they would form their killer candy into

the shape of a ball and stick a Disney toy inside it. The product was discontinued around the same

time as the Kinder Surprise Egg, but would later emerge as the Nestle Wonder Ball, replacing the

deadly toy inside with a chalky, inedible candy for children to choke on instead. The candy is

still currently in production, and you can pick one up at your local Walmart. Number one, Tamarind

Bolirindo Lollipops. For the top spot on this list, we're traveling south of the border. Mexico

is known for having some really unique candies and blending sweet and savory flavors in many of

their confections. However, none of Mexico's sweet salty treats have been considered quite as dangerous

as the infamous tamarind boliringo lollipops. California health officials would issue a public

health warning and placed an embargo on these lollipops for having an insanely high concentration

of lead in the wrapper. The wrapper for the lollipop contained an astonishing lead concentration

of 21,000 parts per million. And to put that in perspective, the maximum legal lead concentration in food

is 400 parts per million. So the lollipop wrapper is 52 and a half times

the legal limit. Three children were hospitalized with lead poisoning and the candy disappeared from the shelves