Sassafras has been used for a variety of illnesses, but the safrole in sassafras root bark and oil has been banned by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including for use as a flavoring or fragrance. Why It’s Banned In the past, sassafras was a widely used plant. It is said that the herb could sure a cold, stomach ache, and other ailments.

Sassafras Tree.
Sassafras oil and safrole have been banned for use as a drug and as flavors and food additives by the FDA because of their carcinogenic potential. Sassafras albidum, native to all states east of the Mississippi River, comes from the Laurel family, which also includes bay, camphor, and cinnamon.Native Americans used sassafras leaves to make tea, and the bark as a cooking spice. The FDA banned the sale of all food products containing embedded, non-nutritive objects some 80 years ago, and the European Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, which contain a non-edible toy inside, falls under that category. The hollow candy egg is a hit overseas, and there have been multiple petitions and campaigns advocating to legalize it in the U.S. for several years. The pleasant-tasting oil of sassafras comes from the roots and the root bark. It's active ingredient safrole is more likely to give you liver damage then get you high. Well, sassafras and sarsaparilla both contain safrole, a compound recently banned by the FDA due to its carcinogenic effects. Root beer is typically but not exclusively non-alcoholic, caffeine-free, sweet, and carbonated.It usually has a thick and foamy head when poured.
Although the U.S. FDA has banned the use of safrole as a food additive and flavoring, sassafras and products containing sassafras can still be located. The main constituent of the oil is safrole. Sassafras trees are well known for another substance that is produced in the root bark called safrole. But sassafras tea contains a lot of safrole, the chemical in sassafras that makes it poisonous. Sassafras is a tree with fragrant bark and leaves. The reason for the medicinal comparison is most likely due to the fact that root beer was originally made from sassafras. However, their use and sale persist throughout the US. Read on to know more.. Sassafras tree, which is also known as cinnamon wood, ague, saxifrax is a deciduous tree, native to North America. Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) is a deciduous tree notable for its mitten-shaped leaves and pleasant scent. Growing up, my grand mother used to always make sassafras tea for a summer time treat for the family. The sassafras most bottlers use is an extract, like the licorice root, angelica root and sarsaparilla root thy make it into a syrup and add the sweetener to the base, then the water, and then carbonated it either with the CO2 gas or some use a ceramic system to naturally carbonate it. Sassafras is the root root beer is made from. If you’re on the young side ask anyone not on the young side: Root beer used to taste a lot better, a whole lot better. Several years later, FDA banned the use of Sassafras tea too.