Fears about contamination, specifically from the toxic chemical compound melamine, have prompted some parents to take a closer look at where candies are coming from.
"I am absolutely worried about what my kids are going to bring home this Halloween," said Megan Zandstra, mother to three young children.
Zandstra says she has been receiving e-mails from friends who have been spreading the word about melamine, and specifically about the news earlier this month that melamine was found in chocolate coins being sold at Costco, dollar and bulk food stores.
Melamine is the toxin at the centre of China's tainted milk scandal, which has left more than 50,000 children ill and has led to at least four deaths.
In Canada so far, 14 Chinese-made food products have been recalled by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency after tests found they contained significant quantities of melamine.
Generally, candies made by the big-name manufacturers such as Cadbury and Hershey are safe because they do not use milk products from China, said Garfield Balsom, a spokesman for the CFIA.
"We certainly have done a lot of work in terms of our retail assessment and our overall surveillance of the melamine issue in China," Balsom said Monday.
"The mainstream products, most of that is made in North America. . . . Like Cadbury's and Kraft, the big companies do not bring in product directly from China."
When it comes to Halloween candy, Zandstra says she generally feels comfortable with the familiar name brands, but this year, she wanted to do things a bit differently.
"Just this morning I bought a hundred tiny Cocoa Camino fair-trade chocolates from the Ten Thousand Villages store on Commercial Drive," she said in an e-mail. "I spent approximately $20 more than I would have on candy from Superstore. I felt a bit guilty about spending the extra cash, but I would rather hand out fewer quality candies than a handful of sugary, processed ones."
For Laura McKenzie though, mother to two young kids, the melamine issue has not been a big concern, nor has it come up in conversation with the other parents who live in her White Rock townhouse complex.
"I haven't heard one of them even mention it when talking about buying things for Halloween," McKenzie said.
The 14 food products that have been recalled in Canada include the milk chocolate pirate coins made by Sherwood Brand, Mengniu strawberry-flavour sour-milk beverage, OK OK Kaiser pretzels, Lotte brand Koala's March filled cookies, Mr. Brown 3-in-1 instant coffee products, White Rabbit candies, and Nissin's Cha Cha dessert. A full list can be found on the CFIA's website.
Balsom said the CFIA can never ensure that all Halloween candies are entirely safe, but the agency has been doing its best to test and monitor products with ingredients from China.
"I can only say what we've looked at in terms of the melamine in our survey and what we've done. But to say that every single product is safe, how can I guarantee that?" he asked.
Amy O'Brian, Vancouver Sun
aobrian@vancouversun.com
