01.14.11
Candy too expensive to make in US … so call Pakistan
And get what you pay for.
The next item is too flabbergasting. You can’t make up better satire.
The idea that candy can’t be made in America — too expensive (!) — so it must be done overseas, like in Pakistan — our best international pal in the whole wide world. So it can be made with lead because regulation doesn’t add to the bottom line there.
And the name of the candy. Well, just read …
The FDA announced that Candy Dynamics is recalling some of its Toxic Waste brand candy. Toxic Waste in Nuclear Sludge, made in Pakistan, has been found to contain elevated levels of lead that poses a threat of poisoning, especially for children. Toxic Waster is made by Candy Dynamics and under the Circle City Marketing and Distributing of Indianapolis, Specific Toxic Waste candies recalled include:
Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Cherry Chew Bar (UPC 0 89894 81430 6), Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Sour Apple Chew Bar (UPC 0 10684 81410 7), and Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Blue Raspberry Chew Bar (UPC 0 89894 81420 7). Each chew bar has a net weight of 0.7 ounces (20 grams).
To date no injuries or illness have been reported in connection with Toxic Waste candy. Toxic Waste tested with
dangerous lead levels of .24 parts per million. The FDA allowable lead content is .1 ppm. No other candy from Candy Dynamics or Toxic Waste brand is affected by the recall. Impact Candy requests that consumers not eat purchased candy and contact Eileen O’Neal, of Candy Dynamics at (317) 228-5012Candy Dynamics specializes the production of extremely sour candy. Sour Candy Drums are designed to look like toxic waste oozing from a nuclear waste drum. Toxic waste comes in candy spray, soft chews, High Voltage and Short Circuit super sour gum. Other brands of very tart, luridly colored candy include Impact Confections, makers of Warheads. Often these kinds of candies are made in China or another Asian country. The concern with foreign made candy, particularly candy made in third world nations, is that the production standards may not be on par with FDA approved levels.
I am sometimes persuaded there’s absolutely no way to fix a country as scrambled and screwed up as the United States.
Circle City Marketing and Distributing doing business as Candy Dynamics, Indianapolis, IN, is issuing a voluntary recall of all Toxic WasteŽ brand Nuclear SludgeŽ Chew Bars, all flavors, Net wt. 0.7 oz (20 g) package. The product is imported from Pakistan.
A recent test performed by the California Department of Public Health has indicated that a lot (#8288A) of the cherry flavor of the above-listed product contains elevated levels of lead (0.24 parts per million; the U.S. FDA tolerance is 0.1 ppm) that potentially could cause health problems, particularly for infants, small children, and pregnant women.
The bad news is that Candy Dynamics won’t be destroyed by the scandal. They’ll just ride the storm out.
In a related matter, DD did postdoctoral work at the Penn State School of Medicine in Hershey, PA.
Yes, the famous Hershey. And — uh-huh– you could smell the chocolate in the air. And on many afternoons, you could smell peanuts being processed at the Reese’s/Hershey factory in the west part of town.
Between the medical school and Hershey chocolate, the middle class could earn a decent living in the place.
By now you know where this is going.
It was too expensive to make Hershey chocolate, the chocolate made in America, in America. So Hershey moved a lot of it overseas.
The next time you buy a package of Hershey’s candy kisses, take a good look at where they’re made before you put your money down.
Chances are, the answer is Mexico, not Hershey, Pennsylvania.
That’s because the iconic candy company closed its historic Hershey’s East plant in its namesake Pennsylvania town, idling some 600 Bakery Workers (BCTGM) members. There’s still another Hershey’s plant there, BCTGM researcher Matthew Clark, who tracks the candy company, told Press Associates.
“But the exodus from Hershey has been going on for a long time,” he adds.
Hershey’s departure from Hershey – a company town dominated by the candy firm and Hershey Park – is a symbol of the increasing trend of the outsourcing and offshoring of U.S. factory jobs. That trend has been increasing in the last decade, according to a new report, Outsourced: Sending America’s Jobs Overseas, published last month by Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
“They want to outsource, build plants in Mexico, shut down American factories and move stuff around,” Chocolate Workers Local 464 Business Manager Dennis Bomberger told a British newspaper, quoted in the report.