Pineapple sweets distributed by a New Zealand charity have tested positive for “potentially lethal levels of methamphetamine”, police said Wednesday, sparking an urgent race to remove them from the streets.
A child, a teenager and a charity worker have already been taken to hospital after tasting the sweets.
The City of Auckland Mission
Although none of the patients are seriously ill, police have launched a criminal investigation and are trying to track down up to 400 other people who may have received the sweets.
“We need to round them up as quickly as possible,” Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said, adding that 16 sweets had been found so far.
Police suggested the drugs could have been packaged inside the distinctive yellow ‘Rinda’ packaging by traffickers or dealers to evade detection.
It is believed they were then donated to anti-poverty charity Auckland City Mission, which inadvertently distributed them through a food bank.
“Drug importation is complex and organised crime groups use a range of measures and techniques to try to evade law enforcement, not just in New Zealand but around the world,” Baldwin said.
The child and teenager who were taken to the hospital after tasting the candy and spitting it out are both doing well, Baldwin added.
The charity worker was also treated for symptoms consistent with methamphetamine ingestion but was later released.
The New Zealand Foundation Against Drugs said a test sample of a harmless-looking white candy in bright yellow packaging indicated it contained methamphetamine.
Foundation spokeswoman Sarah Helm said the candies tested contained about three grams of methamphetamine, hundreds of times more than the typical dose taken by users.
“Swallowing that much methamphetamine is extremely dangerous and can lead to death,” Helm said.
She urged people who had received sweets from the Auckland charity not to eat them. “We don’t know how widespread this is,” she said.
Malaysian confectionery maker Rinda Food Industries said its trademark had been “misused” and that it did not “condon the use of illegal drugs in our products”.
“Our company is committed to ensuring that our products meet the highest safety and regulatory standards,” she said.
Helen Robinson of the Auckland City Mission said the organisation was “devastated” by the news.
His organization estimates that up to 400 people may have received the affected sweets in a food parcel.
Eight different families have been affected so far, she said, including one case in which a parent gave one of the candies to her child, who immediately spat it out.
Robinson said he was told the contaminated candy tasted “acrid and revolting.”
“You could have just a tiny touch or lick of the substance and still be profoundly affected,” she warned.
A contaminated candy was taken for testing when a person felt strange after starting to eat it and noticed a bitter taste.
Methamphetamine can cause chest pain, heart palpitations, seizures, delirium and loss of consciousness, the drug foundation warns.
Helm told Radio New Zealand it is common for drug dealers to hide illegal narcotics in the form of food.
“We suspect that someone did not intentionally seek to poison children,” she said.
