Drinking Cleaning Agents: Should You?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ivan Seeking
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers around the confusion and potential dangers of consuming Fabuloso, an all-purpose cleaner that resembles grape juice in appearance. Participants express disbelief that anyone would drink such a product without reading the label, emphasizing that it is clearly a cleaning agent. Accidental consumption cases are highlighted, including one where a mother mistook the cleaner for juice due to poor visibility. The conversation touches on the product's packaging, noting that it is marketed differently in various regions, with some labels lacking clear indications of its purpose. There is also commentary on the cultural context of cleaning products, particularly those aimed at Hispanic communities, and the implications of product labeling and safety. Overall, the thread underscores the importance of awareness and caution when handling household cleaners.
Ivan Seeking
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
8,194
Reaction score
2,535
http://store1.yimg.com/I/mex-grocer_1863_2733969.jpg

People have been doing just that. The problem is that its an all purpose cleaning agent.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Who's been drinking this without reading the label?!
 
It looks like grape kool aid. Dont think you would catch me drinking nething goofy looking like that without reading the label. Some all purpose cleaners do have a quite pleasant smell to them though!
 
z-component said:
Who's been drinking this without reading the label?!
Not to mention that it would taste like soap.
 
And perhaps after they did taste it, they would spit it out... I hope.
 
In one case, the daughter accidently put it in the fridge. Later, her mother came along without her glasses on and thought it was grape juice. Luckily it just makes you sick. But the manufacturer refuses to consider changing the packaging. I'll bet a few lawyers will eventually take care of that problem. :smile:
 
Does it have alcohol in it? I've heard of alcoholics carrying lysol bottles around and drinking from them.
 
Who would drink more than one swallow? Who would even swallow it ?

The bottle is Fabuloso though. :biggrin:
 
Does it have alcohol in it? I've heard of alcoholics carrying lysol bottles around and drinking from them.

I don't know, but these were cases of accidental consumption.
 
  • #10
Evo said:
Who would drink more than one swallow? Who would even swallow it ?

Apparently the taste is bland enough that people swallow it before realizing that something is very wrong.
 
  • #11
You would think that if you bought the stuff, you'd know you picked it up in the cleanser aisle, not the beverages aisle. Maybe the manufacturer has something against illiterate people. It does look like one of those weird fruit drink bottles, but I'd avoid drinking anything that purple even if someone swore to me it was juice (I don't like grape juice anyway).
 
  • #12
Some people are stupid i guess. I can understand an infant getting into it because it was not stored away safely. But perhaps because the shape is similar to a bottle for spring water from a retail store, sumone thought it was a beverage!
 
  • #13
It's in the Hispanic soap isle at my store.
 
  • #14
Evo said:
It's in the Hispanic soap isle at my store.
You have an Hispanic soap aisle? Is Hispanic soap different from other kinds of soap? :confused:
 
  • #15
Moonbear said:
You have an Hispanic soap aisle? Is Hispanic soap different from other kinds of soap? :confused:
Yeah, they're all cleaning products from Mexico, for the migrant workers, I guess. The labels are written in Spanish. If you could read the label, it's in Spanish. It's odd because we don't really have an hispanic population here.
 
  • #16
Okay, the picture of the bottle is clearer at Colgate's site:
http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/...ulosoEarlyMorning_223&cid=GoogleCorp_fabuloso

Umm...don't you think the mop and bucket on the label would give it away? Or the scent? I assume the purple one is the lavender scent...to me, lavender smells like soap (I love the smell, but it's definitely not something I'd want to drink...I have a lavender scented cleanser for my kitchen too that I bought to keep it really fresh smelling when I was selling my previous house). The blue one is ocean fresh, which who knows what it smells like, but I'm sure it's not a drinkable smell. There's a green called "early morning" and a yellow that's lemon. I've never yet run into a lemon cleaner that actually smells enough like lemon to mistake it for something drinkable either.

I'm leaning toward agreeing with blimkie, it seems some people are just stupid.
 
  • #17
Evo said:
Yeah, they're all cleaning products from Mexico, for the migrant workers, I guess. The labels are written in Spanish. If you could read the label, it's in Spanish. It's odd because we don't really have an hispanic population here.
That's too funny. Even if you did have an hispanic population, I can't see why they wouldn't just be among the other cleansers, maybe at one end so they would be easier to find for people who want labels in spanish. Segregation for cleansers. :smile:
 
  • #18
Screw lawyers, if you're stupid enough to drink this stuff without looking at the bottle (or realizing that your grape juice was somehow in the household cleaning isle at the store) then you should be sick :D
 
  • #19
Oh, wait just a minute here! There's something really fishy going on here. I opened up a bunch of links when I was searching for a better picture of the product and as I was closing them, noticed this one at a Mexican grocer's site:
http://www.mexgrocer.com/7216.html

Notice the label is different! No mop and broom. And now that I look back up at the picture in Ivan's post, I see it's this version of it. Seems they were worried about lawyers for the English speakers but not the hispanic population!

Edit: What the hey?! I also just noticed that at the grocery, it's advertised as a laundry soap, and at Colgate's site, it's listed as an all-purpose cleaner (nothing about laundry). Is this or is this not the same product? :bugeye:
 
Last edited:
  • #20
Maybe they changed formula or something. I've seen labels getting subtle changes every once in a while.
 
  • #21
Pengwuino said:
Maybe they changed formula or something. I've seen labels getting subtle changes every once in a while.
Or responded to threats of lawsuits. :biggrin:
 
  • #22
Moonbear said:
Oh, wait just a minute here! There's something really fishy going on here. I opened up a bunch of links when I was searching for a better picture of the product and as I was closing them, noticed this one at a Mexican grocer's site:

That's where I got it! :smile: I just grabbed the first one that came up.
 
  • #23
It's made from pressed weird, purple jellyfish.
 
  • #24
Pengwuino said:
Screw lawyers, if you're stupid enough to drink this stuff without looking at the bottle (or realizing that your grape juice was somehow in the household cleaning isle at the store) then you should be sick :D
Or that your grape juice was an unnatural shade of purple and smells like lavender!
 
  • #25
zoobyshoe said:
It's made from pressed weird, purple jellyfish.
Ah, that would explain the unnatural color. :approve:
 
  • #26
I saw the OP, I thought it looked like a very interesting, fruity beverage.
 
  • #27
:smile: Look at Moonbear's site! There's a bar soap called CATFISH BAIT!

Catfish Bait - Zote Laundry Soap Bar - Pink 14 oz

Ideal for Catfish bait. Fishing recipe: cut a bar of Zote soap into 5 or 8 chunks, it also works well for cat fishing, then you also have hand cleaner. Works well. Tight Lines...Zote Soap
 
  • #28
Once while working in East LA, I bought a sandwich and milk at a Mexican store [this area is pretty much all Mexican]. I took a drink and about had to spit it out. I don't know what it was but it sure wasn't milk! It looked like milk, and it was in the refrigerator, and the container was like a plastic milk container, but from there, I don't know what it was.
 
  • #29
Evo said:
:smile: Look at Moonbear's site! There's a bar soap called CATFISH BAIT!

Catfish Bait - Zote Laundry Soap Bar - Pink 14 oz

Ideal for Catfish bait. Fishing recipe: cut a bar of Zote soap into 5 or 8 chunks, it also works well for cat fishing, then you also have hand cleaner. Works well. Tight Lines...Zote Soap
:smile: I didn't even look at the other products there. Talk about diversifying your market!
 
  • #30
This reminds me... Some one from Canada once told me that the Mountain Dew they sell there doesn't have caffiene in it. It was apparently decided that a person buying a clear colour soda should be able to reasonably assume that it does not contain caffiene.

Wait, I just looked it up. Appaently the law actually was that anything that did not have caffiene naturally occurring in it you were unable to add caffiene to. Apparently Mountain Dew found a way around the law just recently though.
 
  • #31
blimkie said:
Does it have alcohol in it? I've heard of alcoholics carrying lysol bottles around and drinking from them.

Are you sure it's Lysol and not Listerine? Alcoholics have been know to drink plenty of mouthwash to get 'drunk'...
 
  • #32
Ivan Seeking said:
It looked like milk, and it was in the refrigerator, and the container was like a plastic milk container, but from there, I don't know what it was.
Horchata: Mexican Rice Milk
Address:http://members.tripod.com/~iskra/nomilk/rmilk4.htm

You can buy it out of a cooler here at any Mexican restaurant, and some stores have it in plastic bottles.
 
  • #33
TheStatutoryApe said:
This reminds me... Some one from Canada once told me that the Mountain Dew they sell there doesn't have caffiene in it. It was apparently decided that a person buying a clear colour soda should be able to reasonably assume that it does not contain caffiene.

How stupid. Doesn't its place next to 30 other caffeinated drinks kind of give it away? I mean every other drink that doesn't have caffeine has "CAFFEINE FREE" printed in a very noticable way.
 
  • #34
Evo said:
:smile: Look at Moonbear's site! There's a bar soap called CATFISH BAIT!

Catfish Bait - Zote Laundry Soap Bar - Pink 14 oz

Ideal for Catfish bait. Fishing recipe: cut a bar of Zote soap into 5 or 8 chunks, it also works well for cat fishing, then you also have hand cleaner. Works well. Tight Lines...Zote Soap

Wait, we have a problem with eutrophication of water-courses with detergents, and they respond by inventing this! :mad:
 
  • #35
Evo said:
:smile: Look at Moonbear's site! There's a bar soap called CATFISH BAIT!

Catfish Bait - Zote Laundry Soap Bar - Pink 14 oz

Ideal for Catfish bait. Fishing recipe: cut a bar of Zote soap into 5 or 8 chunks, it also works well for cat fishing, then you also have hand cleaner. Works well. Tight Lines...Zote Soap

Fishing for cats ...surely mice would be better that soap!
 
Back
Top