Jelly candy pulled from stores
Advertiser Staff and News Services
An imported jelly candy popular in Hawai'i has been pulled from local stores and supermarkets around the world after it was blamed for the choking deaths of two California children.
Safeway and Costco stores in Hawai'i yesterday reported they have been removing Jelly Yum from the shelves. The gel candies come in miniature plastic cups, which are sold in bulk in plastic jars. Tropical flavors such as lychee, liliko'i and pineapple are popular in Hawai'i.
In both California deaths, rescue workers said they couldn't dislodge the gel from the children's throats.
Michelle Enrile, a fourth-grader in San Jose, Calif., fell into a coma April 10, 1999, after allegedly swallowing a popular gel-like candy made by Taiwan-based Sheng Hsiang Jen Foods.
Unable to breath for nearly 30 minutes after collapsing in her home, she sustained brain damage from which there was virtually no chance of recovery, says her physician, Elaine Pico.
Long popular in Asian countries, the gel candy has been removed in recent days from store shelves of three major U.S. retail chains — Safeway, Albertson's and Costco — in at least 31 states, including Hawai'i, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
The candies are marketed under a variety of brand names, including Fruit Poppers, Jelly Yum and Mini Fruity Gels. The candies also have been linked to last year's choking deaths of 3-year-old Deven Joncich of Morgan Hill, Calif., and Arturo Lopez, a Seattle 2-year-old. A Canadian girl, whose name has not been made public, also died last year.
The jellies, which until last year were sold primarily in small Asian and Hispanic markets in the United States, come in colorful foil-top plastic cups about the size of coffee creamer packs. Sheng Hsiang has said it has sold more than 3 billion of the snacks.
Attorneys representing Sheng Hsiang say Michelle couldn't have choked from a gel candy because physicians never found one lodged in her throat. Attorney Gary Soter has said that Michelle choked while being chased by her younger sister. "Any food product could cause a person to choke under those circumstances," he said.
Troubled history
The candies are made from konjac jelly, which comes from the fibrous Asian elephant yam plant. Billed in Pacific Rim countries as a health product, the candies are shaped and sized like the end of a hotdog. But health officials say the candy's rubberlike consistency doesn't easily dissolve, and can be almost impossible to dislodge if swallowed whole by small children.
The product is described on the Web site of U.S distributor New Choice Food as a healthy alternative to candy — fat free, cholesterol free and high in fiber. The 120-count tubs that were sold through Costco carry a 1-inch-by-1 inch label warning of a choking hazard. The warning reads: "Do not try to swallow whole! Take only in small bites and must be chewed carefully. Not suitable for children under 5."
The gel candies have had a troubled history, particularly in Japan, where they've been dubbed "the deadly mouthful" after being linked to eight deaths and 80 choking incidents since 1995. But it wasn't until Michelle Enrile's death that much U.S. publicity surrounding the death surfaced. Attorneys for Sheng Hsiang maintain the product is safe. "Whether it was a minifruity gel, a piece of meat, a hot dog, or any hard candy, the result could have been the same," the company said in an earlier statement.
But Food and Drug Administration official Janice Oliver said yesterday that the agency has begun collecting samples from several manufacturers to decide whether the government should ask for a permanent ban from the nation's shelves.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says it has no jurisdiction over recalling food.
Albertson's, Safeway and warehouse retailer Costco — who say they were unaware of choking incidents in Japan as well as at least two deaths in Taiwan — are taking no chances.
After ordering gel candy products to be removed from nearly 200 outlets in California — the biggest U.S. market for gel candies — Albertson's expanded its recall yesterday to 1,700 stores in 31 states.
"Safety and health of our customers are our first concern," says spokeswoman Jenny Enochson. "We felt the right thing to do was to get it off the shelves."
News of Michelle's death generated enough calls from consumers to prompt Safeway to pull the product, something it rarely does without prompting from a manufacturer or government regulators, Dowling says.
Mom-and-pop store operators also are responding.
"We're trying not to sell them any more, because they're not good to sell," says John Truong, manager at Hai Thanh Supermarket in San Jose. "I didn't order any more. They were popular, really popular. Everybody buys them."
Warnings issued
Following Arturo Lopez's death in July 2000, Dr. Alonzo Plough, Seattle's director of public health, issued the nation's first health alert, warning parents of potential hazards.
"We don't think they're a safe product, and there should be some serious thought to regulatory action," Plough said yesterday.
"You can pound on these products, and they keep their form. They don't dissolve easily, and they don't break up," Plough says. "They can lodge in the windpipe because of their shape."
Canada's version of the FDA, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, issued a similar alert last August after consumer advocates in Hong Kong reported the two Taiwanese deaths.
Terry O'Reilly, a San Mateo, Calif., attorney representing the Enriles, plans to file suit against Sheng Hsiang on behalf of the Joncich family next week.
"We've heard rumors of several other deaths in California," O'Reilly says.
Sheng Hsiang's U.S. distributor, New Choice Food of Irwindale, Calif., and Marina Foods, the San Jose grocery where the Enriles purchased the gel candies, have already agreed to pay the family a total of about $7 million. A trial date involving the Enrile's case against Sheng Hsiang is expected to be set within the next two weeks. New Choice would not comment for this report. Marina Foods could not be reached.
