Warnings about jelly candy go unheeded

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Children are still choking to death from once-popular Asian-made jelly candies despite repeated recalls, a ban on imports and a move by major grocery chains to pull the dangerous sweets off the shelves.

Six U.S. children — including one in Washington state — now have died from conjac jelly candy, the latest a 2-year-old in New Jersey around the New Year’s holiday, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.

FDA officials are frustrated that despite warning after warning, small companies persist in selling the candies until overworked inspectors track them down — and parents haven’t gotten the message not to let their children have the hazardous sweets.

The FDA’s announcement came as a California company, Walong Marketing Inc., became the latest in a string of companies to recall its four brands of conjac jelly candy.

Regardless of the brand name, the brightly colored gel candies come in mouth-sized servings in small plastic cups in different fruit flavors, often with a piece of fruit embedded inside. The fruit doesn’t readily dissolve in the mouth — and the gel is so sticky that rescue workers have reported being unable to dislodge it from the throats of choking children.

The candies are sold under dozens of brand names, such as Jelly Yum and Fruit Poppers, and also are known as konjac, konnyaku, yam flour or glucomannan. Some jars carry a label warning that the candies are not safe for children under age 6, others age 3; still others bear no warning.

Highly popular in Asia, they became a hit here about two years ago. But in August, hundreds of grocery stores pulled the sweets from their shelves after health officials announced the deaths a 2-year-old boy from King County, two children in California and a dozen in other countries. By October, the FDA had stopped imports.

But three more U.S. children have died since then, one each in Massachusetts, Texas and New Jersey, the FDA said Tuesday.

Dozens of small companies apparently had large stocks of the imported candies, so sales continue — particularly in Asian food markets — until FDA inspectors stumble over individual sellers.

Consumers are urged to return the candy to the place of purchase for a refund, and may contact the company at 714-670-8899 for more information.