On Thursday 23rd June, to mark Child Safety Week, we joined forces with our sponsor Bitrex to hold the UK’s first Big Taste Test.

**** The Big Taste Test Competition - and the winners are … ****

A big thank you to all of you who entered the Big Taste Test competition.  We had some fantastic entries, and choosing just two winners was a hard task but we are pleased to announce that Busy Bee Nursery in Newport-on-Tay in Fife and Heathfield’s Children’s Centre in Whitton, Twickenham are our winners!  Both will receive a prize of £200, courtesy of Bitrex, to host their own party or fete to celebrate their win.

What is Bitrex?

Discovered by chemists at Macfarlan Smith in Edinburgh, Bitrex is officially the world’s bitterest substance,  They encourage suppliers of cleaning products, car care products, such as anti-freeze and gardening products to include Bitrex, to reduce the risk of accidental poisoning.

Why did we want you to taste it?

By including a bittering agent, such as Bitrex, in their products, companies are adding in an extra safety measure to help put parents minds at ease, by reducing the risk of accidental ingestion.

We wanted as many parents to see, or should we say taste, for themselves the world’s bitterest substance to see how difficult it would be for their child to swallow a product containing a bittering agent.

By taking a second look for safety in the supermarket, to look out for a product containing a bittering agent, such as Bitrex, parents can add a third line of defence between their child and accidental poisoning, after careful storage and child resistant packaging.

The plus side

Taking part in the Big Taste Test itself was a great way to highlight the benefits of looking for products containing a bittering agent but perhaps the prospect of tasting the world’s bitterest substance was not overly appealing (it took several CAPT members of staff months to take the plunge!).  However the remedy was, and is, a much more attractive proposition - milk chocolate!  The best thing to get rid of the bitter taste …. has there ever been a better excuse?

Curious?

On Tuesday 7th of June, we roped in the parents and staff at the Oasis Academy Sure Start Children’s Centre in Croydon to host their own Big Taste Test.  To demonstrate just how easy it is to run the Big Taste Test and of course to let everyone see the reaction as Bitrex hits their taste buds! Click here to see how it went.