​Thirteen-year-old Alyssa Stone stood outside the Nitro Shack inside the Alderwood Mall.



"It just looked pretty cool," she said. "We just want to try it." Why? "Because of the dry-ice effect," she said.



She agreed to be recorded trying Dragon's Breath for the first time.



She put one of the cereal puffs in her mouth. As she chewed, vapor came out of her nose and mouth. Her verdict? "It's pretty good."



And it's pretty popular.



A worker whisked up cup after $8 cup of the snack for eager customers. The draw is that the balls of cereal are whipped around in liquid nitrogen. That freezes them and makes vapor come out of the eater's mouth.



But 30 minutes after a boy ate the snack in a mall in Florida, he suffered an asthma attack.



"It wouldn't surprise me," said Dr. David Naimi, an allergy and asthma specialist with offices in Seattle and Everett.



He had not heard of the liquid nitrogen-laced treat. But he could easily list the dangers.



"Handling it could cause burns, if not handled properly," Naimi warned. "It sounds like if one were to swallow it, you could cause burns of the gastrointestinal tract, your esophagus and stomach. And then if you have asthma, there's two things wrong with that. No. 1, it's cold air. If you're breathing in these vapors, it's very cold. So if you have an abrupt change in temperature or inhaling cold air and you have asthma, that could cause an asthma exacerbation. No. 2, this is liquid nitrogen. If you inhale the vapors, that's not recommended."



Now the Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers and retailers of the possibility of "serious injury from eating, drinking or handling food products prepared by adding liquid nitrogen at the point of sale, immediately before consumption."



When first purchased, the cup was very cold. But then the nitrogen quickly evaporated. And when the cereal ball was dipped in the sauce that comes with it, it simply tasted like something sweet.



The potential dangers before the nitrogen dissipates, however, were alarming to Alyssa and to her mother.



"Oh, my gosh," said Meredith Stone. "OK, well, maybe we shouldn't drink it or eat it."



The treat is being sold in at least two places in Snohomish County and two places in King County. But it is also being sold at fairs and festivals.



Health officials say they will inform the owners of the FDA alert and continue to monitor them.