Children Get Hurt After Getting Exposed To Dragon’s Breath

Photo credit: cindymarie93

A bunch of kids in Indonesia got injured after consuming liquid nitrogen-covered candies. They call it dragon’s breath or ciki ngebul according to several sources. According to Maxi Reni Rondonuwu who is the Director General of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, about 25 children were negatively affected by the food, among which two were hospitalized.

According to the Indonesian digital news outlet Kompas, there have been at least 10 cases of people suffering food poisoning from dragon’s breath. Another Indonesian outlet known as Kontan put together a timeline containing information about multiple individual cases. Among them was a near-fatal case that saw one kid go under the knife because the dessert left a hole in his stomach.

Consuming foods fueled with liquid nitrogen has many health risks and many doctors have warned about them. Liquid nitrogen is very cold. So cold that it can easily burn the skin and body. Aside from burning, it can also cause asphyxiation.

A warning about dragon’s breath was sounded as far back as 2018 by the Food and Drug Administration. They noted that there had been injuries that occurred “from handling or eating products prepared by adding liquid nitrogen immediately before consumption, even after the liquid nitrogen has fully evaporated due to the extremely low temperature of the food."

Indonesia's Ministry of Health has cautioned mobile vendors against selling the dessert. They have also advised that other precautions be put into place, such as informing children in schools.

Dragon’s breath is made by dipping the snack in liquid nitrogen which causes smoke to leak out, creating a visual spectacle that has been featured in YouTube videos and tweets for years. They call it dragon’s breath because it makes smoke escape from the mouth and nostrils of the person eating them. It is also popular on TikTok with a trending hashtag that has more than 200 million views.