More candy from Mexico recalled due to elevated lead levels - Mars Inc, Tootsie Roll and Hershey Foods, Operate plants in Mexico. DEC 22 07

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[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [sign-in] [setup] [Donate] [Help] [FAQ] [Register] http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=211041 & Disp=14 Money, Finance & BusinessSee other Money, Finance & Business ArticlesTitle: More candy from Mexico recalled due to elevated lead levelsSource: The MonitorURL Source: http://www.themonitor.com/news/tarritos_7591___article.html/recall_candy.htmlPublished: Dec 22, 2007Author: Aaron NelsenPost 2007-12-23 14:27:43 by Itzlzha27 CommentsConcerns about lead contamination have prompted a San Antonio import company to expand its voluntary recall of Mexican candy, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Villa-Mex Imports Inc., the company responsible for importing Tarritos, has agreed to voluntarily recall the candy, but state and local officials say it could take weeks before the item is completely removed from store shelves. Tarritos is the second brand of Mexican candy to be recalled this month after testing revealed elevated lead levels in the products. Productos Avila S.A. manufactures Tarritos and is also responsible for Barrilito, which was recalled at the beginning of December. “We can’t provide an exact timeline for the recall,” said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas state health department. “It’s going to boil down to how efficient the recall is and the communication that goes into it. We do hope that most is already recalled.” But a week after the department’s Dec. 14 announcement of the Tarritos recall, the candies were still on the shelves of several Brownsville stores. And employees seemed unaware or unconcerned about the risk. George Lopez is the owner of Lopez Food Store, which had several of the Tarritos mug-shaped glass jars with the dark, reddish-brown paste for sale. He said he receives recall notices for so many products that he was unaware of the Tarritos recall or if his store even sold the product. “I’ll check on it and if there is a recall we’ll take it off the shelf,” Lopez said. And Lucky Mart Convenience Stores on Southmost Boulevard had a full box of Tarritos, which it sells for $1.39 per unit. The owner of the store was unavailable for comment, but one of the clerks said she was familiar with the recall but wasn’t sure why the product had not been removed. Both stores later removed the Tarritos candy from their shelves. Candy can be contaminated in a variety of ways, including ink from the candy wrapper seeping into the product or from lead-based solders. The glass container was responsible for contaminating the Tarritos candies, according to state authorities. Eating products contaminated with lead can lead to delayed mental and physical development and learning deficiencies in young children, the state health department reported. The amount of lead found in the Tarritos was as high as 0.125 parts per million. Anything above 0.1 parts per million is considered dangerous. Villa-Mex Imports will be given an opportunity to voluntarily recall Tarritos from its distributors before the state health department begins targeted inspections, Williams said. Dr. Brian Smith, regional director for the state health department, said Mexican candies have posed a health concern in the Rio Grande Valley for a long time. “There are a number of different concerns with Mexican candy,” he said. “Rat feces, bugs are common of tamarindo products. Personally, I don’t eat Mexican candy.” FAIR USE NOTICE: The above may be copyrighted material, and the use of it on LibertyPost.org may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available on a non-profit basis for educational and discussion purposes only. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 USC § 107. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Post CommentTop • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest1. out damned spot, Happy2BMe-OnLP, midwest minuteman, jon_galt, Dewy, Goldi-Lox, KineTIK, JoeSnuffy, fitz, liberator, samcgwire, seen2much, fallujah nuker, indalay, QBC, kstewskis, Moldyoldie, Travis McGee, Scrivener, Serenissima Venezia, RLKK, AuntB (#0)Tarritos is the second brand of Mexican candy to be recalled this month after testing revealed elevated lead levels in the products. Mexico is learning WELL from the Chinese businesses... This is the price the SERFS pay for GloBAALism...consider our lives and health a "sacrifice" to the Goddess of Corruption! Tell all MultiNational Sell-outs to STUFF their products and crap! Itzlzha posted on 2007-12-23 14:30:01 ET Reply Trace2. Itzlzha (#1)Helps explain the high incidence of "newly arrived Mexican nationals" in our mental hospitals, that and eating Aflatoxin infected corn products. mininggold posted on 2007-12-23 14:38:50 ET Reply Trace3. Itzlzha (#1)Do they make an unleaded? Happy2BMe-OnLP posted on 2007-12-23 15:42:54 ET Reply Trace4. Happy2BMe-OnLP (#3)Do they make an unleaded? Those are the "boutique blends" that the Ruling Eee-lites get... Itzlzha posted on 2007-12-23 15:47:48 ET Reply Trace5. Itzlzha (#1)This is the price the SERFS pay for GloBAALism. Rah rah! Scrivener posted on 2007-12-23 15:51:31 ET Reply Trace6. Itzlzha (#0)Personally, I don’t eat Mexican candy.” What person with a brain cell would? yukon posted on 2007-12-23 15:56:25 ET Reply Trace7. Itzlzha (#1)Mexico is learning WELL from the Chinese businesses... This is the price the SERFS pay for GloBAALism...consider our lives and health a "sacrifice" to the Goddess of Corruption! Tell all MultiNational Sell-outs to STUFF their products and crap! Labeling laws MUST be enforced CLEARLY... Of course Congress is doing everything possible to sanction lowering the safety standards of food, manufacturing, while giving the ChiComs and Mexicans a license to ignore Patent Laws to boot. Congress' job is to destroy ALL standards and tradionals of America -- whether health, moral issues, economic, history, educational, the law -- while infusing socialism and globalism. America's Government is hijacked and sold out. Stockholm Syndrome is well under way to numbing the Sheeple. Some major changes and exposure of the "secret agenda" must be facilitated through patriots from within the inside. liberator posted on 2007-12-23 15:59:04 ET Reply Trace8. yukon (#6)Personally, I don’t eat Mexican candy.” What person with a brain cell would? Ever eat a Hershey Bar?....made in Mexico U.S. Candy Makers Go to Mexico, Changing the Face of the Industry By JOEL MILLMAN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Ross Perot once warned of the "giant sucking sound" you would hear as Mexico pulled jobs south of the border, where U.S. business could pay less and reap the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In the candy industry these days, you can hear that sucking sound loud and clear. Mexico has attracted top U.S. candy manufacturers looking for cheap labor, cheap sugar and a youthful Mexican market with a sweet tooth. U.S. confectioners are also using Mexico as a platform to export back into their home market, helping Mexico more than triple its candy sales in the U.S. to around $150 million last year from less than $50 million in 1993, the last year before Nafta went into effect. That sales surge is behind a shrinking candy work force north of the border. All of the Big Three U.S. candy makers -- Mars Inc., Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. and Hershey Foods Corp. -- operate plants in Mexico. Mars expanded down south in December with the acquisition of Monterrey's Grupo Matre SA. Meanwhile, Brach's Confections Inc. will close its flagship Chicago plant next year and move 1,100 jobs to a plant currently under construction in Linares. Labor costs are part of Mexico's draw: Mexican workers earn as little as one-tenth of what workers in U.S. factories earn. Canada also competes on labor costs, thanks to the weak Canadian dollar, which has depreciated nearly 20% against the U.S. dollar since Nafta's passage. But an even bigger reason for the flight of the lollipop and sourball makers is the U.S. price of sugar. Candy manufacturers operating in Mexico and Canada pay world rates for raw sugar -- about half the federally supported U.S. cost -- and can easily undercut U.S. competition. "I just got tired of paying welfare to Big Sugar," explains Greg McCormack, president of Bob's Candies Inc., of Albany, Ga., which recently opened a plant in Reynosa. The same price pressures are being felt across Candy Land by producerslarge and small. Last year, Hershey Foods announced a $275 million restructuring and the layoff of 1,000 employees with the closure of plants in Colorado and Pennsylvania. Last month, Philip Morris Cos.' Kraft Foods announced the closing of a Life Savers plant in Michigan. Lesser-known confectioners like Gilliam Candy Brands Inc., of Paducah, Ky., also are hurting. Gilliam was forced to close a plant in Edwardsville, Kan., last year, while American Candy Co. filed for bankruptcy-law protection and shuttered its plant in Lebanon, Tenn.Plant upgrades, industry experts say, will save some jobs, but only for the strongest companies. "At the end of the day," says Tom Ward, president of Kansas City-based Russell Stover Candies Inc., "there will be literally only a handful of manufacturers left in the U.S." Write to Joel Millman at joel.millman Updated February 27, 2002 12:01 a.m. EST bluewater boats posted on 2007-12-23 16:53:48 ET Reply Trace