Police departments in several parts of Germany are urging caution after numerous discoveries of needles, nails and other metal objects in sweets collected during the Halloween weekend. Children and parents in multiple regions reported finding such items in their gathered candy, including in chocolate bars, chewy candies and gummy sweets.
Cases were reported in Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Schleswig-Holstein, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, according to the available information. Investigations are ongoing.
Many police stations are warning against carefree consumption of sweets collected at Halloween. Essen police advised the public to check candy for possible puncture marks before eating it and to contact police immediately if anything suspicious is found.
Police in Konstanz said anyone who discovers suspicious sweets or foreign objects inside them should keep the items, including the packaging, and contact the local police station. Foreign objects should where possible not be removed by the individuals themselves, so that any traces are preserved.
Bad Segeberg police advised parents and children to be attentive if sweets smell or look different from usual, if packaging is damaged, or if a sweet is noticeably deformed. The officers also recommended staying calm, noting that not every headache or bout of nausea must be connected to eating potentially manipulated candy.
Sources: FAZ.