Christmas and Halloween Chocolate Pop products withdrawn

The withdrawn products are:

• Lucky Dip Delicious Christmas Treat Chocolate Pop, 25g
  Batch code: 228
  Best before: 30 September 2009
• Lucky Dip Delicious Halloween Treat Chocolate Pop, 25g
  Batch code: 358
  Best before: 30 September 2009

Lucky Dip (Nottingham) Ltd has removed the affected products from sale and issued point-of-sale notices explaining why the products have been withdrawn.

If you have bought any of these sweets you should destroy them or return the products to the place where they were bought.

Images of the products can be found at the link at the bottom of this page.

The affected products are manufactured in Zhongshan, China, by Le Bang Chocolate Food Company and imported into the UK by Lucky Dip (Nottingham) Ltd. They are sold in a number of UK shops.

Melamine is an industrial chemical that should not be present in food. Milk products containing melamine have been at the centre of a major food incident in China.

Since 15 October 2008, under European Commission regulations, any products from China containing milk or milk products have been analysed in a laboratory to make sure that any levels of melamine present do not exceed 2.5mg/kg. If the level is higher than this the product is destroyed.

The levels of melamine in the Christmas and Halloween Chocolate Pop products were 28.9mg/kg and 46.2mg/kg respectively. However, these products are not considered to be a risk to health.

On 22 October, another UK import company, Spencer and Fleetwood, withdrew certain varieties of chocolate novelty products also made by Le Bang Chocolate Food Company that had been tested in the UK and found to be contaminated with melamine. The affected products were certain batches of Fifi’s Boobies, Lollipop Boobs, and Cheeky Chocolate Milk Chocolate Bottoms.

On 17 October, Scobie (Llarn) Ltd withdraw some of its imported chocolate novelty problems, also manufactured in Zhongshan by Le Bang, which the importer sold to a number of Ann Summers shops in the UK. They included a chocolate flavoured willy spread and chocolate flavoured nipple spread.

If there is a problem with a food product that means it should not be sold, then it might be 'withdrawn' (taken off the shelves) or 'recalled' (when customers are asked to return the product). Food alerts are the FSA's way of letting local authorities and consumers know about problems associated with food and, in some cases, providing details of specific action to be taken. They are issued under two categories:

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