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A sticky situation: whipped cream confusion cleared by NY senator

Jon Campbell

Published Sep 5, 2022

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A man is squirting whipped cream from a blue can onto a hot fudge sundae as a child and woman look on

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Jon Campbell

Published Sep 5, 2022

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Queens state Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. doesn't have much of a sweet tooth these days.

“I used to like whipped cream,” the exasperated lawmaker told Gothamist. “I used to like it a lot. I really did. But now, I don’t know.”

Addabbo’s been spending a lot of time talking about whipped cream lately — more time than he'd like. It all started last month, when a bill he sponsored into law last year suddenly found its way into the news.

You may have seen the headlines on your social media feeds:

That was all news to Addabbo, the veteran lawmaker who led the push last year to ban the sale of whipped cream chargers to those under the age of 21 — not the pre-filled cans of whipped cream you find in the grocery store.

Whipped cream chargers are small, bullet-shaped cartridges filled with nitrous oxide. They’re used by professional bakers and cooks in reusable whipped cream dispensers.

After hearing a complaint from a constituent, Addabbo found they were being sold by the dozens at corner stores in Ozone Park — often in neon-colored packaging that he said was clearly being marketed to kids looking to get high on whippets.

That’s why he was more than a little confused when he got a call from a reporter three weeks ago asking him about the new law that had actually taken effect late last year.

"I get a call from a Buffalo reporter about banning the sale of canisters,” Addabbo said. “I said 'no, chargers.' And she said, 'canisters.' And I say 'no, cartridges.' And I'm like, 'why does she keep saying canister?'"

Addabbo soon found out why. Signs started popping up in grocery stores and corner stores, warning customers that they had to be 21 — and show ID — to purchase a can of whipped cream.

That's where things got a little sticky.

The law specifically applies only to “whipped cream chargers,” which it defines as a “steel cylinder or cartridge filled with nitrous oxide that is used as a whipping agent in a whipped cream dispenser.”

But a basic can of whipped cream — think the kind you would top a sundae with — does come preloaded with a nitrous oxide charge inside the tube. So when Kent Sopris, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores, caught wind of the law in June after starting in his job, he advised store owners to be cautious.

"I looked into it,” Sopris said. “I saw that there was a law. I told my members immediately, as I interpreted it, you should start IDing."

Last month, the news went viral, with images of must-be-21-to-purchase signs popping up on whipped cream shelves across the state and finding their way onto local newscasts.

So Addabbo went to work, putting out not one but two press releases last week trying to rein the story back in. He said he checked in with the state Attorney General’s Office, which agreed with his interpretation — that the ban applies only to the small nitrous chargers, not the full cans of pre-filled whipped cream.

"It's very clearly that it's a charger or a cartridge that's being banned,” he said.

Sopris was satisfied with the explanation. On Wednesday, his organization emailed its members, including a copy of one of Addabbo’s press releases.

“You do NOT need to ID a customer in order to sell them a can of whipped cream,” the Association of Convenience Stores wrote, in bold and underlined font.

Tagged

joseph addabbo

laws

attorney general

new york state senate

Jon Campbell

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Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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