Tainted Halloween Candy

[Rafterman]

So like most of you, I grew up accepting the story that poisoned or tainted Halloween candy was a fact of life. Every year there would be stories on the news about it (parents, check that candy), police agencies and/or hospitals would offer free X-rays for your child's candy (how much did that cost?), and pretty much everyone knew somebody who knew somebody who knew a kid who died from eating a poisoned Baby Ruth.

The worst part of it is that it has completely reshaped the landscape of Trick-or-Treating. Parents are terrified to let their little ghosts and goblins go from house to house in their own neighborhoods anymore. It has been replaced with ToT'ing at the mall (lame) or idiotic things like Trunk-or-Treat (how ******* boring is that?). And remember the nice little old lady who would work for hours to make homemade popcorn balls or candied apples and have the kids line up around the block for them? Well, try that today and you'll probably have the cops knocking on your door.

So I did a little research on the subject and guess what I found - nothing much really. According to Snopes, there have been ZERO documented cases of children dying or being injured from poisoned Halloween candy. Although there have been cases of kids dying and it being blamed on the candy, follow up autopsies have all found other causes. There was also a case where a FATHER (WTF?) poisoned his kid during Halloween to use the legend as cover - fortunately he was convicted and got a taste of his own poison a few years later.

Now to be fair, there have been a handful of minor injuries from razor blades, pins, and needles over the past decades, but most of these have been attributed to pranks played by other kids. Certainly it doesn't rise to the level of hysteria that we all experience every year.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/poison/halloween.asp

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.asp

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/halloween/a/Is-Halloween-Candy-Tampering-A-Myth.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoned_candy_myths

[Q-C]

The only candy that was "suspect" in my kids bags were the ones I liked.

Maybe the hysteria was fed by older or clever siblings and greedy parents. lol

[Gummug]

I heard about a case MANY years ago where a pizza had a razor blade inside. Don't know if it was from the factory or, as you mention, prank from another kid. It's nice to know this is not as widespread as thought, though.

[Rafterman]

I heard about a case MANY years ago where a pizza had a razor blade inside. Don't know if it was from the factory or, as you mention, prank from another kid. It's nice to know this is not as widespread as thought, though.

There are certainly cases of tainted food and other products - the Tylenol scare being one of the worst. And stuff is recalled all of the time due to things like equipment breakage putting metal, etc. into food.

But the idea that the cemetery is full of poisoned Trick-or-Treaters is simply a myth.

[BiffSplitkins]

The only candy that was "suspect" in my kids bags were the ones I liked.

Maybe the hysteria was fed by older or clever siblings and greedy parents. lol

Yes, those Kit-Kats are extremely bad for children, even if they are not poisoned. Well, that's what I used to tell my daughter when she was little.

[JesseCuster]

There are certainly cases of tainted food and other products - the Tylenol scare being one of the worst. And stuff is recalled all of the time due to things like equipment breakage putting metal, etc. into food.

I used to work in a food processing plant that made frozen pizzas. The last device on the processing line was a metal detector that was there in case of something like machine parts getting in to food. We also weren't allowed to use plastic pens that could get dropped into food and shredded and remain undetectable so they issued all workers metal pens.

On a few occasions while I worked there the alarm sounded and a mangled squashed metal pen was found in a pizza crust.

You wonder what gets into food in food processing plants which are laxer about such things.

[Dark_Grey]

I used to work in a food processing plant that made frozen pizzas. The last device on the processing line was a metal detector that was there in case of something like machine parts getting in to food. We also weren't allowed to use plastic pens that could get dropped into food and shredded and remain undetectable so they issued all workers metal pens.

On a few occasions while I worked there the alarm sounded and a mangled squashed metal pen was found in a pizza crust.

You wonder what gets into food in food processing plants which are laxer about such things.

Hm I really like that idea. A metal detector at the end of the line...

[Purplos]

It's amazing that anyone can actually make new friends in the world today.

Between everyone thinking everyone else is either a pedophile, murderer, candy poisoner or other degenerate, people should just crawl under rocks and stay there.

[rashore]

I remember when I was a kid, it was the tainted apple in our area. Either with an object shoved into it or something in it to make kids sick. I always figured the kids made the story up or possibly provoking the story because they didn't want to get apples in their trick or treat bags. Wasn't till I was a bit older in a different location that it was poisoned candy.

[supervike]

I remember as a kid, going trick or treating and some jerk had me come over to where his buddies and him were drinking beer. He had me close my eyes and then he dumped his ashtray in my bag. Hell, I was only 5 years old or so, and this was back when parents just let the kids go.

[freetoroam]

It's amazing that anyone can actually make new friends in the world today.

Between everyone thinking everyone else is either a pedophile, murderer, candy poisoner or other degenerate, people should just crawl under rocks and stay there.

I agree.

But as your friend, please pass me all your sweets....just in case you understand?

[scowl]

A few months ago I went to dinner with a friend and she found a piece of metal in her salad. The employees said it looked like it had come off of one of their wire shelves.

Maybe we need to bring metal detectors whenever we eat out!

[coolguy]

When we where kids the lore was a razor blade in an apple

[Black Koi]

Growing up, I still knew kids who weren't allowed to go trick or treating for that reason. Well, some parents would still let their kids dress up and go with their friends, but then dump their child's candy once they got back. The parents would then take their kids to the store and let them pick out a few king sized candy bars.

My parents didn't really worry about poisoned treats, but didn't let me eat anything homemade (unless it was from someone we knew). Not that I received a lot of homemade treats on Halloween, anyway....