Agency warns about potential choking hazard to children from banned sweets

Tuesday 8 July 2003

Ref: 2003/0392

The Food Standards Agency is today renewing its warning that children should not eat mini cup jelly sweets containing konjac after two of these illegal products were found on sale in the UK.

This type of sweet was banned across Europe last year following the deaths from choking of about 18 children worldwide. A product called Jellyace Lychee Flavor Konjac has now been found on sale in shops in England and Wales and a similar mini-cup sweet called Jellyace Buko Pandan, labelled as containing konjac, was found at a shop in Oswestry, Shropshire. Parents should be alert to the potential risk from these sweets and children should not buy or eat them.

The sweets contain the additive konjac. Jelly sweets made with this ingredient do not dissolve easily and can result in the sweets becoming stuck in a child's throat. The sale of these Jellyace products, which are sold under the brand name Sugarland, is illegal following a European ban on the use of konjac in jelly confectionery last year.

The only known distributor, Milagrosa, has stopped distributing these products from its warehouse in Leyton, east London. The sweets are known to have been distributed to outlets in London, Leeds, Swansea, Rhyl, Oswestry, Watford, Epsom and Castleford. The Agency has asked local authorities across the UK to visit local shops to ensure that if any of these products are found, they are removed from sale.

In both Jellyace products, the jelly is contained in a dome-shaped plastic cup, similar to a coffee creamer container, with a peel-off foil lid. The sweets are sold in 192g packs, each containing 12 sweets.

Other packets of Jellyace Buko Pandan have been found that are labelled as containing locust bean gum, an alternative gelling agent, instead of Konjac. These are legal. Consumers should check the label. The manufacturer of all these products is the San Miguel Corporation, a food, beverage and packaging company based in the Philippines.