Florida

Mother Warns of Trendy Snack ‘Dragon's Breath' After Son Is Hospitalized

A Florida mother says the novelty dessert known as "Dragon's Breath" is what sent her son to the hospital with an asthma attack and is now warning others of the trendy snack.

The popular treat "Dragon's Breath" is cereal infused with liquid nitrogen. While eating, white smoke puffs out of the nose and mouth. Racheal Richard McKenny, of St. Augustine, wrote in a Facebook post that she let her children try the snack at a mall in Jacksonville.

"They had fun and it seemed harmless enough," she wrote.

On the ride home, McKenny said her son Johnny, who has asthma, started coughing so badly that he eventually had trouble catching his breath. With not enough time to drive to the hospital, they stopped at the local fire station, where paramedics put him on albuterol and eventually transported him to the hospital.

"What triggered this? The liquid nitrogen smoke from the Dragon’s Breath cereal," McKenny wrote.

McKenny's Facebook post has garnered thousands of likes and shares.

"PLEASE, if you know someone that has even just a mild case of asthma, do NOT let them have this snack," she wrote. "I should have known better, but it did not occur to me that this food could have this effect. As a result, my son could have died. Please don’t make the same mistake I did."

Johnny, who has asthma, uses his inhaler very rarely, and his mother didn't think to bring it with her to the mall. 

"Again, it was my mistake," she said, adding that people who need it should have an inhaler with them at all times.

The owner of Subzero, an ice cream shop in Parkland, told NBC 6 he's sold thousands of Dragon's Breath cups without any incidents, but now he's warning customers with respiratory problems to avoid the dessert.

"Don't try even try it, it's not worth the risk," he said.

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