What the Heck is Silver Food Colouring Made Of?

Yesterday I supervised a field trip day to a local nature trail with my daughter's class.  What a stressful six hours that was!  Might have something to do with my assigned charge "Jeffrey" running off unexpectedly at every step along the way.  We travelled by foot, train, boat, and bus for transit time of 2.5 hours.  EACH WAY.  On the way back, my daughter purchased silver Cola Balls from a candy shop at Lonsdale Quay.

With my (not) vast knowledge of metals, I wondered what coloured the balls silver?  Silver?  Aluminum?  No matter the alternative, all seemed kind of... scary, and none qualified as what I thought of as food.

My friend Google advised me that nobody ever asked this all important life altering question, soon to be the subject of the Obsessive Researching Mommy's attention.  British sweet shop Baa Humbugs had an ingredient list for Silver Cola Balls:  Sugar, Modified Maize Starch, Gelatine (Bovine), Stearic Acid, Maltodextrin, Flavourings, Colour, E173.

So what is E173?

E numbers are codes for chemicals which be used as food additives in the European Union, according to Wikipedia.  So... E174 is Silver.  But E173 is... wait for it... aluminum.  A check of a Canadian candy, the "Cola Silver Ball" made in Burnaby by Pauline Johnson is made of:

SUGAR, FLAVOUR, COLOR E 173, GELATINE, GLAZING AGENT
CARNAUBA WAX, WHEAT STARCH, GLUCOSE SYRUP

There it is again, that silly E173!

We should really name them, "Aluminum Cola Balls." Doesn't have the same tasty ring, though, I admit.

Somewhere in the depths of my brain, I remember a link between aluminum and Alzheimer's, enough to warrant a frantic phone call to my parents to tell them to STOP using their aluminum cookware. Wikipedia further assures me that my worries are without merit:

"According to the Alzheimer's Society, the medical and scientific opinion is that studies have not convincingly demonstrated a causal relationship between aluminium and Alzheimer's disease.  Nevertheless, some studies, such as those on the PAQUID cohort, cite aluminium exposure as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Some brain plaques have been found to contain increased levels of the metal.^[83] Research in this area has been inconclusive; aluminium accumulation may be a consequence of the disease rather than a causal agent. In any event, if there is any toxicity of aluminium, it must be via a very specific mechanism, since total human exposure to the element in the form of naturally occurring clay in soil and dust is enormously large over a lifetime.^[84][85] Scientific consensus does not yet exist about whether aluminium exposure could directly increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease.^[81]"

Aluminum toxicity can be caused when you eat foods containing a high level of aluminum.  Now, as to what amount is "safe?"  The FDA has determined that aluminum used as food additives are generally safe.

And now, the ORM can rest to fight another day.

Travelocity Virgin Blues

  This is the hotel where I am *not* staying next year.

Being the Obsessive Researching Mommy, I researched and booked a hotel in Hawaii some nine months in advance.  For the first time, I used Travelocity.com.

Now, I have been consulting Travelocity for years, using them for price comparison searches.  Finally, I was giving back (and enjoying the sale priced room)...

Yesterday I decided to extend our stay by three days, so I looked on the hotel website.  I found the following message, and my stomach dropped.

Important Announcement to Our Customers and Hotel Guests

We have been notified by Kamehameha Schools and its for-profit subsidiary KBH, Inc., the owner of Keauhou Beach Resort, that it will close the hotel on October 31, 2012. The decision is strictly a business decision by the owner based on its long-range plans for the property. Outrigger is committed to a smooth transition and to maintaining service levels for all guests until operations cease on October 31. For questions about individual bookings, please contact
Outrigger Reservations at 1-800-688-7444 or reservations@outrigger.com

I called the number listed for Outrigger.  The operator told me that they contacted all of those who booked directly with them regarding the closing, and offered alternate accommodations.  If I had made the deadline of contacting them by September 30, 4 days previously, I could have stayed at the Sheraton Keauhou or the Marriott King Kamehameha Kona Hotel at the same rate I paid originally.  Sadly, because I booked with Travelocity, I did not receive a phone call.  Or an email.  In fact, it was entirely possible that I would have shown up in Hawaii with my party of small children and seniors and seen the "Closed" sign on the hotel, if the hotel wasn't just a pile of rubble by then... Oh, the horror!

The horror only continued.

My call to Travelocity resulted in my speaking to a series of operators with heavily accented English, Indian English, in fact.  I had to keep asking the operators to repeat what they said because I had trouble understanding them.  I can understand Cockney English, but sometimes Indian English escapes me.  The call centre is located in India, and the operators were quite eager to cancel my reservation.  I insisted that they NOT cancel my reservation until I had a new reservation in hand, fearing a purging of electronic records, or someone telling me that well, I *had* a reservation but I don't anymore so they can't help me.  The operator could not understand this and kept saying he would cancel my reservation. I had to tell him five times not to do so.  It was as if he could not understand anything I was saying.

Note to business owners: please do not outsource your call centre to India.  This results in frustrated customers.  Frustration because we cannot communicate with your call centre operators.  I feel that a company that places its trust in a call centre outside the country does not care about customer service.  The consequence of saving money by outsourcing is resulting in this... I will never use Travelocity again and I will recommend that others avoid it.  If things go wrong, I do not want to bang up again a brick wall.  Over and over again.

As to what I was hoping for?  I wanted Travelocity to intervene on my behalf, to ask the substitute hotel Marriott or Sheraton to match the rate, and to make a new reservation at that rate.  Unfortunately, the operator did not understand what I was asking, and ask that I call back from Monday to Friday to the original hotel itself.  He said they would have a list of reservations.  Like a robot, he kept offering to cancel my reservation.  I kept telling him not to, and he kept offering to cancel the reservation.  Three times.  He did not know, but I already tried the hotel directly myself and they had bounced me to Travelocity when they could not find my name.

Outrigger, for its part, was slightly more helpful.  The third of three operators I spoke to made an effort to call two hotels which offered to honour my reservation at the same rate: the Marriott and the Sheraton inside managers were not able to extend the offer.  The Outrigger operator said that Travelocity is supposed to be helping me with my relocation, since they are the one holding my money.  She told me that when I contact the call centre, to talk to a supervisor who I can understand (and who can understand my English).  I should insist that I need to talk to a supervisor now who can help me with this in the U.S.  So, I followed her instructions and spoke to Melvin at the call centre, who forwarded me to Elatra in Pennsylvania.

Elatra was fluent in English, but she was unable to help me with a booking at the Marriott or Sheraton at a reduced rate.  The rates she could access were exactly the same rates I could receive if I booked myself online.

I found myself ranting to her about how I had used Travelocity as a comparison tool over the years, but never booked with them.  The first time I booked with Travelocity (out of guilt) and what happens... what a horrendous experience.  If I had booked with the Outrigger directly at the same rates offered by Travelocity, I would not have wasted hours of my time over the past few days.  I would be staying at the Sheraton or Marriott.  The Marriott inside reservations person, Tracey, seemed that she sincerely wanted to help, but since my name did not appear on a list of existing reservations sent to them from the Outrigger Keauhou, she could not apply the discounted rate.

Bottom line:  Don't book with a third party travel service provider like Travelocity.  If you can, book directly with the hotel and this kind of crap won't ruin your planning.