Safrole

And then the ethers, myristicin, This one from Indonesia almost has 11%, and we're gonna find out what this means.

And saffrol, 1.75%, which isn't very much, but it's the ethers in nutmeg that brings us our safety information.

What we look at is determine how much nutmeg we can use in a blend is from the ethers, and this will greatly vary depending on what country.

Now, as I say that, sometimes it doesn't matter which country it is.

And nano means it was small amounts.

Okay, so they used a small amount in the small areas.

And the second thing, so that one, that saffrol is connected to our link down below from NCBI.

Now, saffrol, it's a major component of sassafras oil.

on drugs caused all this.

The situation came about as a result of the UN banning a precursor to MDMA, Saffrol, in 1988.

Then, over the next couple of decades, they staged a large crackdown on the trade of it.

In the late 2000s, it all came to a head.

It was enough to make 250 million pills and it created a monumental drought.

This did significantly dent availability for MDMA production, according to drug science, so chemists looked for an alternative source of a suitable precursor.

Aniseed oil seemed like the ideal alternative as it was chemically very similar to Saffrol, so this was used.

Unfortunately, the product that results from using the MDMA production process with aniseed oil is PMA or PMMA.

As food science developed, researchers began taking a much closer look at the chemicals naturally occurring in plants.

Saffrol eventually became the subject of safety concerns, particularly after studies raised questions about its potential health effects.

That created a major problem for manufacturers.

How do you keep the familiar flavor people expect from root beer while removing an ingredient that regulators no longer consider safe for use in food? The answer was reformulation.