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Don't Eat the Toxic Waste Cherry Chews

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

It seems that a candy called Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge may be, in fact, potentially hazardous.
In a news release posted late Thursday on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website, an Indianapolis company said it was recalling all flavors of its Toxic Waste® brand Nuclear Sludge® Chew Bars due to elevated levels of lead in the cherry chews. The release said the candy ("hazardously sour," according to its label) is imported from Pakistan and had been distributed nationwide in retail stores and through mail order. 
Circle City Marketing and Distributing, which does business as Candy Dynamics, issued the recall for Toxic Waste® Nuclear Sludge® Cherry Chew Bar (UPC 0 89894 81430 6), Toxic Waste® Nuclear Sludge® Sour Apple Chew Bar (UPC 0 10684 81410 7), and Toxic Waste® Nuclear Sludge® Blue Raspberry Chew Bar (UPC 0 89894 81420 7).  Each chew bar has a net wt. of 0.7 oz (20 g).
The company said a recent test performed by the California Department of Public Health has indicated that a lot (#8288A) of the cherry flavor candy contained elevated levels of lead (0.24 parts per million; the U.S. FDA tolerance is 0.1 ppm).
Out of an abundance of caution, according to Candy Dyanamics, all lots and all flavors of the product distributed from the product's inception in 2007 through January 2011 are part of the recall. 
Candy Dynamics said it was sending recall notices to its direct customers.  It suggested that anyone who has the candy should telephone the company for information on destruction of the product, which presumably does not involve summoning a haz-mat unit.  Please call Eileen O'Neal at 317-228-5012 (Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST) for further information.
 

Full post as published by Food Safety News on January 14, 2011 (boomark / email).