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Of all the jokes C&H could do about “mouthful mode”, this is far tamer than I was prepared for.
Silica gel says do not eat but it’s non toxic and generally harmless if eaten. Even if you eat a ton of it you generally only see mild GI symptoms like bloating and diarrhea. You typically pass it undigested.
Little kids can choke on it though, thus the do not eat. Also in rare situations it’s coated with cobalt which is toxic and will make you vomit but this isn’t used for consumer desiccant, especially so for food
Not only is it generally harmless when eaten, it is in fact allowed to be added to food in up to 5% concentrations in Europe, 2% in the US. The FDA lists it as “Generally Recognised as Safe”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silica_gel#Uses
I suspect that the whole “Do Not Eat” is partly because the Silica Gel in the little bags is not made to food safe standards, but that’s just speculation on my part
plain silica gel is generally harmless*
the color indicating gel can have some nasty stuff in it like cobalt chloride
