Haribo is recalling bags of its fizzy cola bottles in the Netherlands after cannabis was found in some of them.
Authorities began investigating when several people, including children, became unwell after eating candy from one-kilo (2.2-pound) bags of Haribo Happy Cola F!ZZ, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) told CNN.
Samples taken from the cola bottles revealed that the product was laced with cannabis, NVWA said, adding that Dutch police are now investigating how the candy became contaminated.
“How the cannabis ended up in the sweets is still unknown,” the food standards regulatory body said. CNN has contacted the Dutch police for comment.
Through a statement issued by NVWA, Haribo said it was recalling bags with a best-before date of January 2026 and warned consumers not to eat the candy.
It said the measure was precautionary, as only three bags were found to be contaminated as of Thursday.
The recall is limited “to a specific product and batch” in the Netherlands, with products in other countries unaffected, the German confectionary giant told CNN in a statement.
The company is “working closely with the authorities to support their investigation and establish the facts around the contamination,” it added.
Incidents of candy becoming contaminated with illegal drugs are not uncommon, though they rarely involve commercial products.
In 2023, more than 60 elementary school students were hospitalized in Jamaica after unknowingly eating cannabis-laced candy.
The same year, two people were arrested and charged when seven Virginia elementary students ate gummy bears from a plastic bag with fentanyl residue on it.
In 2019, Pennsylvania police warned parents after finding packets of THC-laced edibles made to look exactly like Nerds Rope candies.
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