Local stores pull STORES IN HAWAII have pulled a popular candy off shelves after the choking deaths of two children in California and others in Asia.
jelly treat after 2
deaths in Calif.
Health officials warn
that the candy poses a
choking hazardStar-Bulletin Staff and wire reports
Officials at Safeway Inc. said yesterday they had removed the candy from some 200 stores around northern California, while local public health officials warned of the dangers of the "conjac" jelly candy -- gel treats sold in small plastic cups with a piece of fruit inside.
The candies have been blamed in the deaths of two California children -- a 3-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl -- who both died after allegedly choking on gel cups. A trial in the death of the girl is expected in the next several months.
"These tragic incidents underscore the need for greater public awareness," said Martin Fenstersheib, Santa Clara County's public health officer. "Parents need to be very watchful and monitor what their children eat, especially young children."
The 18 Safeway stores in Hawaii also received word to remove the jelly candy, but they don't carry it, a spokesperson said.
Longs Drug Stores sold the product, but it has been removed from the 32 stores, a spokesman said.
Not all of Foodland's 28 stores carried the candy, but it was removed last night from those that had it, said Sheryl Toda, communications director.
Janice Okubo, state Health Department spokesperson, said the Food and Drug Division looked into the candy and felt the warnings on the package were sufficient.
"Parents need to read warnings on the package that say young children shouldn't be eating that candy." The department isn't aware of any choking incidents in Hawaii, Okubo added.
The candy, which is usually made in Asia and sold under a number of brand names, is made of conjac jelly, a binding agent that does not easily dissolve in the heat of the mouth.
Around the world, more than a dozen deaths are tied to the candy. Most are in Asia, where the candy originated in 1995. In Japan, the candy has gotten the nickname "deadly mouthful."
The candy pulled from Safeway shelves this week was marketed under the "Jelly Yum" brand name and advertised as unsafe for anyone three years old or younger, according to Food and Drug Administration requirements.
Health department officials in King County, Wash., posted a similar advisory on their Web site last summer after a child died from choking on gel candies.
Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling said the company's own research on the product, coupled with customer feedback, had led to the decision to begin removing the candies from the shelves. "Based on what we learned about the product, and out of an abundance of caution, we decided to remove it," he said.
In the suit over the girl's death, lawyers have accused Taiwan's Sheng Hsiang Jen Foods Co. of pushing a product "shaped like a bullet and just as deadly," particularly when frozen. "Given its plug shape and resilient consistency, freezing allows it to wedge into the esophagus and to seal it in place," lawyers O'Reilly, Collins & Danko said in a release.
Lawyers for Sheng Hsiang, in a statement to the news media, said it was not clear that the girl was actually eating one of the company's candies, adding that even if she was "the product is not dangerous and did not cause the choking incident."