ST. LOUIS — They're sweet, they're smoky, and they're spicy. They've also been dubbed St. Louis' essential chip.
The addicting Red Hot Riplets are made by Old Vienna of St. Louis, an area staple since the 1930s. The family-run food distributor ships the chips and other products across the nation from its headquarters in Fenton.
The bags are iconic, letting people know that the chips are flavored with St. Louis-style hot barbecue sauce. But, another part of the bag left one 5 On Your Side viewer scratching his head.
Black text in the bag's top right-hand corner stands out against the other red and orange stylized fonts and reads "NOT FOR SALE IN CA." The viewer, named Jacob, asked 5 On Your Side whether it was true that California can't savor the succulent chip flavor and, if so, why?
We dug into the facts to VERIFY the claim.
The question
Are Red Hot Riplets not allowed to be sold in California?
Our sources
The answer
Yes, Red Hot Riplets aren't allowed to be sold in California. The reason? A dispute over a warning label on the chip's bag.
What we found
In 1986, California residents passed Proposition 65, otherwise known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. The proposition primarily regulates substances that the state determines cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Acrylamide is one of the chemicals on the proposition's list. It has been listed as a probable human carcinogen under the proposition since 1990 and is created in certain foods when they are cooked at high temperatures, such as potato chips. The chemical's low-level effects on humans are unknown, according to the CDC, but animal testing has shown acrylamide to cause reproductive problems, nerve damage and cancer.
"Acrylamide is commonly found in potato chips and many other kinds of fried and baked foods," said Amy Gilson, a representative of the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
Businesses that sell products that contain acrylamide have one of two options: either changing the manufacturing process to reduce the levels of acrylamide to the lowest levels possible or putting a warning label informing consumers about the presence of the chemical in the product.
"A number of potato chip manufacturers are meeting this standard and are selling their potato chips in California without warnings," Gilson said.
Old Vienna chose a third option: to not reduce its levels of acrylamide or provide a warning label.
"We can't change our bags just for one state," said Old Vienna Office Administrator Elisha Schaffer. "Because our product is not manufactured in California, we do not have that warning on our products, and we will not change our bags to put that warning on there, therefore ... we are not allowed to ship to California."
VERIFY
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