11/1/2008online: 11/1/2008

SAFETY: Tainted chocolate investigation expands

Recalled candy found in stores in Etobicoke, North York, Niagara Falls, Oshawa; Halloween candy not affected

By TAMARA SHEPHARD

November 04, 2008 12:52 PM

Source of Article:  http://www.insidetoronto.ca/article/58615

Hershey’s chocolate recalled two years ago has been found in Niagara Falls and Oshawa, just days after federal inspectors removed 640 bars from five small, independent stores in Etobicoke and North York.

Members of the public alerted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency over the weekend that the recalled bars were being sold in those two cities — as well as in Scarborough.

“We’re canvassing a much broader area now that we know where the bars have been found,” Garfield Balsom of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said today, Nov. 4. “Hershey’s is also doing its own canvassing.”

Federal inspectors pulled Reese peanut butter cups and Oh Henry! bars from a distribution centre in Niagara Falls over the weekend, and discovered some of the bars were being sold at a store in Oshawa.

Federal inspectors have yet to locate any of the chocolate bars in Scarborough stores, Balsom said, despite consumer complaints this past weekend.

Last week, inspectors seized Oh Henry! bars (both regular and Rocky Road), Hershey’s dark chocolate almond bars and Reese’s Pieces from five convenience stores in Etobicoke and North York, Balsom said.

The candy has codes ranging from 6417 to 6455 on the package.

“It gets very deteriorated-looking,” Balsom said of the recalled chocolate. “It’s off-colour, whitish.”

In November 2006, Hershey’s recalled 25 products after salmonella was found in the soy lecithin, an emulsifier, used to make the candy in its Smith’s Falls, Ont. plant.

Salmonella was not found in the chocolate, Balsom said.

The recalled candy includes Hershey’s chocolate chips, milk and dark chocolate bars (with and without almonds), Reese peanut butter cups, Cherry Blossoms, Glosettes, Eat-More bars and Lowney Bridge Mix and other treats.

The federal agency’s consumer alert does not affect snack-sized bars sold in Halloween packaging.

Some of the recalled chocolate bars were stolen last year from a Toronto disposal firm, and started showing up on the shelves of small, independent convenience stores in Toronto.

Police arrested two men in connection with the crime last year, but haven’t made any arrests since, Balsom said.

Balsom said no illnesses have been reported.

Eating salmonella-contaminated food may cause vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain. In young children and the elderly, the bacteria can be deadly.

 

 

 

Main Page

setstats            Copyright (C) All rights reserved under FoodHACCP.com

            If you have any comments, please send your email to info@foodhaccp.com