Sgt. Paul McCurbin of Durham Region police said the cases all involve small boxes given out on Halloween. He said there was no evidence of tampering, "except that cold medication was found inside."

In further weirdness, it seems that in Canada Smarties are made of chocolate and have nothing to do with the Smarties we're used to — which, of course, look exactly like drugs. For example:

Durham Regional police launched their investigation upon reports from a young girl who found a tablet of medicine among her treats, according to a news release issued Friday.

The girl, Dhymone Williams, told CBC News she discovered the orange pill inside a small, sealed box of Smarties she received on Halloween night.

"I knew it wasn't a Smartie because I know that Smarties are round and they have chocolate in it, and that one I could see right through it," she said.

You do learn something every day, don't you?

Cold medication discovered in Halloween candy [CBC]
More cold medication found in Smarties [Star]

PREVIOUSLY: Pet Food Companies Agree To $24 Million Settlement Over Killer Pet Food
(Photo: Ariana Lindquist)

After a two-week delay to make sure the language of the settlement met U.S. and Canadian law, about 30 pet food makers have agreed to pay out $24 million to customers whose pets were killed or injured in the tainted food fiasco a year ago. Victims will be reimbursed for expenses, including vet and burial/cremation bills. Additionally, "pet owners can request reimbursement for the cost or fair-market value—whichever is higher—of a deceased pet or one purchased in replacement. Owners who don't have documentation of expenses can get as much as $900 each. All claims are subject to review."

If approved, this will pretty much wrap up the saga of the melamine-tainted pet food, and teach pet food companies a hard lesson about enforcing stricter standards on their Chinese suppliers. According to the Wall Street Journal,

Among the companies settling the suit are Menu Foods Income Fund; Procter & Gamble Co., which makes Iams pet food; Colgate-Palmolive Co., maker of Hill's; Nestle SA, maker of Purina; and Mars Inc., maker of Pedigree. Retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Petco Animal Supplies Inc. and PetSmart Inc. were also part of the suit.

The settlement has to be approved by a judge, and the court date is set for Friday, May 30th.

"Legal settlement reached in tainted pet food case" [Reuters UK]
(Photo: faster panda kill kill)

FDA's working hypothesis is that this was intentional contamination, but this has not been proven.

"The complexity of the global drug supply chain creates new and emerging risks that call for new ways of thinking about, identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, and that resting on old standards - even ones that have worked for decades - is no longer enough.

"Inevitably there would be an increase in the cost of the products that is passed on to the consumer," Cal Dooley, the group's president and a former Democratic lawmaker, told a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. "You are further compounding the rapid increase in food prices, the likes of which we haven't seen in recent years."

With the legislative changes, "you would get safe food from places like China, where they sell all manner of crap," Dingell told Dooley.
 
Under the proposal, food producers would have to pay annual registration fees of $2,000 per facility, generating $600 million for FDA food-safety activities, more than doubling the current budget. The FDA would be required to conduct inspections every two years of both domestic and foreign makers of drugs and medical devices.

From the Washington Post:

The companies are liable for distributing the tainted product even if they had no direct knowledge of the risk because they were negligent in not ensuring the toothpaste was safe, Supervising Deputy City Attorney Jerry Baik said.

Ghermezi said he had not seen the charges but was shocked by the filing. All the adulterated toothpaste was voluntarily pulled from shelves and from his Vernon, Calif., company's inventory eight months ago and destroyed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month, he said.

"Everything we had was destroyed by the FDA," Ghermezi said. "I thought the file had been closed."

Ghermezi said he supplied the toothpaste to Vernon Sales, also based in Vernon. He said his company never knowingly sold adulterated toothpaste and thought the product had FDA approval.

"We didn't know of the ingredients of the toothpaste," he said. "We don't [have] any intention of hurting people."

(Thanks to dsavlin!)

"Charges filed against LA importers over toxic Chinese toothpaste" [Chicago Tribune]
"Criminal Charges Filed Over Poisonous Toothpaste" [Washington Post]
"Los Angeles City's Chief Prosecutor, Along With FDA, Files Criminal Charges Against Two Local Companies For Toxic Toothpaste Import " [RTT News]

RELATED
"Man Who Discovered Tainted Toothpaste Located, Interviewed"
The saga of the tainted toothpaste on Consumerist
(Photo: Janmi_)

The Columbus Dispatch says that an estimated 7 million dental appliances in the U.S. come from foreign labs, and make up about one-fifth of the market. A Columbus television news station decided to test a few:

Working with a Columbus dentist, WBNS ordered eight supposedly identical dental crowns from four labs in China, the source of a growing number of dental implants used by U.S. dentists. The labs are regular advertisers in industry publications distributed in the United States.

A certified testing facility in Cleveland found that the porcelain veneer of one of the crowns contained lead — 210 parts per million.

Until the results are available, the ADA says patients with concerns might want to ask their dentists these questions:

• Do you make your own crowns, bridges, etc., or buy them from a dental laboratory?
• Where is the lab located?
• Does the lab outsource crowns or bridges to a foreign country?
• If the lab is in a foreign country, does it provide written documentation that it is registered with the FDA?
• Does the lab provide written documentation that it uses FDA-approved materials?
• Have you noticed any problems with the crowns, bridges or other items produced by this lab?

Any dentists or dental lab techs lurking? Have you heard anything about this topic?

(Thanks to Cassandra!)

"Lead might be lurking in dental work" [Columbus Dispatch]
(Photo: greefus groinks)

Certain toys had more than five times the standard safety level, including a Hannah Montana card-game case, which had a lead level of 3,056 parts per million, the Journal said.

"Many toys in test have dangerous chemicals: WSJ" [Reuters]
(Photo: chefjancris)

For instance, China reported that only 82% of the food tested in medium and large cities met safety standards, and that although "it believes 99 percent of its food exports meet safety standards, only about 80 percent of food sold domestically has passed inspections."

In addition to the arrests, China announced it has banned 13 toxic pesticides from being produced in the country, and that since July, 1,000 tons of fake products have been intercepted at Chinese ports and recalled or destroyed.

"774 Arrests in China Over Safety" [New York Times]
(Photo: Getty)

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service is investigating a Missouri facility that produced the batch pot pies. ConAgra, which is offering refunds for purchased pies, "believes the issue is likely related to consumer undercooking of the product" and is considering redesigning the package "to more clearly illustrate different cooking times for Banquet pot pies related to varying wattages of microwaves."

"Health alert on some turkey, chicken pot pies: USDA" [Reuters]
"ConAgra Advises Consumers To Avoid Banquet Turkey" [CNN Money]

"In one week we have gone from the largest U.S. manufacturer of frozen hamburgers to a company that cannot overcome the economic reality of a recall this large... We want to thank our loyal employees and customers who have supported us throughout the 67 years in which Topps Meat has been in business," D'Urso said. "Topps has always prided itself on providing the utmost quality and safety and never had a recall in our history until now. This has been a shocking and sobering experience for everyone."

According to the New York Times, Topps was "bought in 2003 by Strategic Investment and Holdings, an investment firm in Buffalo." Reports of sickness from the tainted meat have come from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and New York.

"Meat Recall Forces Topps Out of Business" [American Agriculturist]
(Photo: Getty)

He bought a tube, and the next Monday he took a vacation day to bring it to a Health Ministry office. They directed him to a second office, naturally. They told him to take the toothpaste to a third office, and when he balked, they had him fill out a complaint form and leave the tube. Three days later, the story exploded when the country's top health official reported that a "shopper in Panama" had discovered the tainted product.

A year ago, those words would have meant nothing to him. "Nobody had ever heard of this stuff," Mr. Arias said. But a steady drumbeat of news about poison cough syrup had engraved the words in his mind.

"It was inconceivable to me that a known toxic substance that killed all these people could be openly on sale and that people would go on about their business calmly, selling and buying this stuff."

The salmonella-tainted spinach is sold under the label "Metz Fresh." The recall affects 10 and 16 oz bags as well as 4-2.5 lb. and 4 lb. cartons. If you have Metz Spinach, check the bag for these tracking codes: 12208114, 12208214 and 12208314.

According to the FDA, most of the spinach has been intercepted before it reached the marketplace.

"Nothing is more important to Metz Fresh than the safety of our consumers, period," said Andrew Cumming, President of Metz Fresh. "As soon as we learned of the presumptive positive test, we directed all customers to hold all boxes of the spinach affected as a precaution. Now, with this positive test confirmation, there is no question that we would recall and destroy all spinach bearing these three codes."

The positive test came during independent lab testing Metz Fresh conducts on all of its products. Through its labeling and numbering system, Metz Fresh has already tracked, located and put 'holds' on the vast majority of the cartons of spinach affected. That spinach will not be released into the marketplace.

Metz Fresh Announces Voluntary Recall of Spinach [FDA]

Elaine Larabie said Saturday she ate some dog food last week in an effort to convince her terrier, Missy, to do the same. Soon afterwards, both Larabie and Missy found themselves in hospital — Larabie at an after-hours emergency room, and Missy at Ottawa's Alta Vista Animal Hospital.

Initially, the devoted dog owner did not think dog food made her sick.

"I thought I caught a virus, but then I realized I ate the food, and put two and two together," she said.

For three days, she suffered a range of "confusing" and "embarrassing" symptoms, including loss of appetite, vomiting and foaming of the mouth.

She also had problems urinating. She had blood work done last Wednesday and is now awaiting the results of those tests.